When The Darkness Comes
by xoeternalflamexo
Summary: Everything will change as Sydney & Adrian are reunited once again by the very darkness that threatens to take over their lives. Now magic is tipping out of balance, a rogue sorceress is on the lose & when Sydney's former History teacher is involved, trouble always ensues. The world as they know it may never be the same. {Sydrian} {Goes AU from The Indigo Spell}
1. We're Not In Palm Springs Anymore

**A/N: New story. What if Sydney had chose to go with Marcus and his Merry Men instead of staying back with Adrian in Palm Springs at the end of The Indigo Spell? This picks up roughly a month and a half ish after Sydney leaves Palm Springs for Mexico. This story will be told from both Adrian and Sydney's POVs, chapter wise.**

**I updated 'VDVE' quite fast, but I will let you know now that this story will be a slower process. I will work as fast as I can, however and hopefully all will go as planned. Simply be patient. Expect weekly updates for now. :)**

**P.S The first 2-4 chapters are short, but they get longer.**

**Also, Please, PLEASE review. It would mean the world. Anyway... Enjoy.**

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><p><strong>Title<strong>: When The Darkness Comes

**Summary**: Everything will change as Sydney & Adrian are reunited once again by the very darkness that threatens to take over their lives. Now magic is tipping out of balance, a sorceress is on the loose & when Sydney's former History teacher is involved, trouble always ensues. The world as they know it may never be the same. {Sydrian} {Goes AU from The Indigo Spell}

**Disclaimer**: I do not own any of the Bloodlines or Vampire Academy characters no matter how much I wish I did sometimes. I have no affiliation with Richelle Mead whatsoever. This is written purely for fun.

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><p><strong>Chapter One -<strong> Sydney

_I know you're torn_

_And in between dreams_

_But it's all you've ever known_

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><p>We're Not in Palm Springs Anymore<p>

His twinkling emerald eyes were like a lush oasis.

They were endless, alluring and so full of life. Perhaps if I looked close enough I would see my reflection in them. I could drown myself in those eyes forever, it would be the closest thing to paradise. He blinked, and I pulled myself out of his entrancement. We were sitting cross-legged, facing each other, palm in palm. His touch was soft, warm and inviting. It felt like home.

There was a curve to his lips, like he was just about to break into a mischievous grin. He looked like he was sharing a joke with himself, one that only he understood. It left the rest of the world confused; but he didn't care, he didn't think anyone would understand it anyway. I waited for him to smile; but he didn't. Something flashed in his pretty eyes; but I couldn't grasp what it was. It was gone in a millisecond.

"What's happening?" I questioned, a little puzzled now.

Something felt wrong… Everything was extremely quiet. _Too_ quiet. There was nothing here except for the two of us. Was this heaven? Is this what heaven felt like?

He shook his head, some of his messy brown hair falling over his eyes, I wanted to touch them, push them away. He didn't let me.

"It's all about to change, Sage. It's about to change for the both of us."

His voice was so distant that it scared me, and panic surged through me. Why did he sound so far away? He was sitting so close to me, we were connected. He wasn't allowed to sound so… surreal and obscure.

"Come closer to me," I spoke softly, "You're too far away."

He finally smiled, but the smile was sad and wistful.

"I wish I could, but you didn't let me."

What was he saying? I didn't understand a word. All I knew was now I was worried. Suddenly, everything started to tremble, a tumult shaking the ground beneath us.

"It's begun." Adrian's voice was only a soft whisper in the void.

"What? What's begun?" Adrian didn't look at me, his eyes were distant. "The realms of magic, both black and white, are tumbling inside and out. Change is almost here, and it's going to swallow us whole."

I frowned, my throat beginning to dry up. His image started to flicker like a candle flame in the wind, I extended an arm and tried to reach out to him. "Grab my hand!" I exclaimed, but Adrian just stared at me.

Those gorgeous green eyes suddenly lost all their charm; now they were empty, emotionless. His eyes stared off into nothingness; and I wanted to scream. He didn't move a muscle, "Adrian!" I cried out as loudly as I could but it was futile.

The dead couldn't hear me.

Blood. It was everywhere. The dark red liquid appeared out of nowhere and drenched his  
>white clothes in their demonic essence. I was aware that I was screaming but I wasn't<br>able to hear my own voice. I just kept calling out to him.

Suddenly, a brilliant white light flashed out of nowhere and the scene shifted.

We were in bed, wrapped in red blankets on red bed sheets. His lips, they were red too. We were kissing, his lips were warm and tasted like rose petals.

It was a blistering kiss that burned away the intolerable pressure that had been building up inside of both of us. The kiss hurt, it was hungry and unsatisfied. We devoured each other like animals. It was intense, passionate and… electrifying.

I paused to take a few long, much needed breaths. Adrian's silhouette flickered and  
>for a second, his eyes were wide open, staring off into space again. He was just a<br>lifeless body soaked in red, about a second later, he was Adrian again. His lips parted to trail kisses down my neck but I stood up, pushing him away and wrapping the red covers over my naked body.

"What's happening?" I repeated, "I don't understand."

Adrian spoke again, but the voice being enunciated wasn't his own. It was deep and echoed throughout the room,

"It's coming, and when it does… Everything will change."

xxxxx

I woke up kicking and screaming.

My forehead was glistening with sweat and I could feel it trickling down my right cheek.  
>When I looked up, I saw a familiar face. His eyes were blue and he had really white teeth.<br>His eccentric tattoo seemed to give away his identity far too easily. His blond hair were disheveled like he'd just woken up from bed. And of course, he had; because of me.

Marcus Finch stood over me, his eyes full of concern. "Sydney? What's going on?"

I took a few calming breaths before I spoke, pushing wayward blonde locks away from my  
>sticky face. "Bad dream…" It couldn't have been a normal dream, could it have? I didn't remember most of my dreams, and the ones that I did remember… No, this wasn't Adrian's style.<p>

Things felt warmer, brighter in his dreams.

This one felt dark and ominous, like a nightmare. He wouldn't do that to me, this hadn't been his doing.

"You were screaming his name again, Sydney. Third night in a row. Are you getting  
>homesick or something? I thought you liked it here, with us."<p>

I sighed again, refusing to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry, Marcus. I didn't mean to wake you up."  
>I didn't want to respond to his question. If he wanted the truth I could lay it out on him, give it to him straight that yes, I missed Palm Springs and all my friends there. And yes, of course I missed Adrian the most. That, however, would lead to a pointless argument that wouldn't lead anywhere so it was better if I just kept my conflicted emotions to myself.<p>

Plus, it was long past midnight - and Marcus got cranky and unbearable when he didn't get his beauty sleep.

He still peered at me with a skeptical look on his handsome face; waiting for further explanation.

"I do like it here. I can't control my dreams, I'm not a lucid dreamer, Marcus. You should go back to sleep, we'll talk in the morning." To my utter relief; he bought my words. He stood up, flashing me one of his million dollar smiles even in the middle of the night.

"Rest up and get your eight hours of sleep, we're going surfing tomorrow."

I rolled my eyes as Marcus walked out of my room. It was always surfing, beaches, dancing  
>and margaritas with these people. Which - I guess to anyone who wasn't me was a pretty good deal. Still, I <em>was me<em>; and I wasn't amused. They had dragged me along with them to Mexico with promises of making a real change. We had the leads and everything to prove it, instead,  
>they spent all their time 'laying low', which in Marcus speak meant partying and lazing it up.<p>

It was disappointing.

I had joined them because I'd thought we could do some real good here and make a true difference, I'd left my responsibilities behind for this. And now here I was in a rundown motel in the middle of Mexico with a bunch of slackers.

_You ARE doing good. Everyone here is human, like you. _

The truth was that I got along much better with the Moroi and Dhampirs than I ever would in a million lives with Marcus or even the Alchemists for that matter. I worried every waking hour about my friends back in Palm Springs. I wondered how Jill was doing and if she had managed to get together with Eddie, I had to know if Angeline was keeping herself out of trouble, and even if Trey was doing okay. Most of all, I missed Adrian.

What would he be doing right now? Drinking his sorrows or doing just fine without me, already moving on to the next girl? The truth was, every time something important, funny or crazy happened in my life, my first instinct was to talk to Adrian about it. Which, of course, wasn't an option.

I spoke to Jill and the rest of the gang on the phone almost every week, but Adrian and I had stopped talking completely and it was all my fault. _Isn't that what you wanted, though? You wanted to leave him, that's the main reason you ran away with Marcus and his Merry Men in the first place!_

I rolled in my bed, peering at the alarm clock on my nightstand. It was only 4:00 am, but I knew I wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. So instead, I jumped out of bed, made myself some coffee from the instant coffee maker I'd managed to procure and pulled out the note that Adrian had given me before I'd left.

I stared at it, like I did every night before going to bed.

I took a sip of my coffee and traced the letters of my name written in his unique handwriting.  
>I remembered the first time I'd seen it, how much I'd hoped it was some big, flowery declaration of his love for me… Instead, it was just numbers. Not Adrian's style, not really. It had taken me only a few seconds of leering at it to decipher it, though. They were coordinates. Adrian had thought I would come back to him, he'd assumed I wouldn't run off with Marcus, but I had done exactly that.<p>

I felt so guilty sometimes I felt like I was going to throw up if I mulled on about it for too long. One night, I'd even entered the numbers into my GPS and used the magical tools of Google Earth to find out where exactly it was that Adrian had planned on taking me.

I still remember how I'd clenched my jaw when I'd found out the place that he had probably been waiting for me at. I could still hear the sound of my heart breaking as I looked on. The coordinates were to a sister museum to the Getty Center, one that specialized in ancient Greek and Roman art. On the website, I had found out that admission was free but required reservation. Adrian had reserved it for us, in a museum of all places, he'd probably gotten bored to death over there… But he'd done it anyway because he knew I'd love it.

A grand romantic gesture and what did he receive in return? Nothing.

I'd left him there, all alone, crushing his hopes, dreams and his heart with it. I despised myself everyday for doing that, almost positive that I could never show my shameful face in Palm Springs again.

Mexico had been an utter and royal mistake. Marcus and his Merry Men were all talk, and that's it. They hid in their little shells and did nothing about the grand information that they had. Marcus had assured me that he could at least get my tattoo 'fixed', but I'd refused and eventually, he had no choice but to comply. Now I was here in Mexico with a bunch of lazy  
>'rebels' who did nothing but drink and party. I was wasting away my time while Jill and the others could be in real danger, not that I could've helped with the danger part even if I was in Palm Springs, but I did have some magic up my sleeves now.<p>

That's when it struck me that I had my ex History teacher, Mrs. Terwilliger who was also a sort of a witch, complete with a coven and cats. She could probably help me understand where these crazy dreams were coming from. I just had to wait until morning.

xxxxx

"Oh, dear. You should have told me about this sooner."

Mrs. Terwilliger's voice was agitated. It was funny, I'd called her out of desperation, but I hadn't actually known that she would have all the answers. It didn't really come to me as a surprise, though, she always seemed to have all the answers. She was like this all-knowing human Wikipedia. I was envious, I thought that I was the only one wielding such knowledge.

"I don't understand," I mused, I heard her scoff on the other end of the line. "I was afraid this would happen. However, I was hoping you wouldn't be involved in this."

"Mrs. Terwilliger, can you please elaborate?"  
>"Of course, dear, of course. Ah, this is not completely out of bounds however I must say that it is quite uncommon for a regular witch; especially a fledgling like yourself to receive prophetic dreams."<p>

I froze, my heart pounding so hard inside my chest that I thought it would explode. "Prophetic? As in I'm seeing the future? Mrs. Terwilliger, is something going to happen to him? Is Adrian in danger?"

Her answer was as infuriating and vague as I'd expected it to be, "Yes and no."

"What does that mean?"

"That means that I need you to come back to Palm Springs immediately."

"But—"

"We have a situation on our hands, Miss Melrose. I wouldn't be telling you this if it weren't important. Everything could break into chaos if this…The peace between our worlds would just… I need you to come back, no questions asked. Do as your told."

The line went dead.

I spent the rest of my day pacing around, frustrated, confused and trying to figure out my next step. When I finally came to a conclusion, I was packing my bags and booking a flight to Palm Springs before I even knew it. An hour or so later, I decided to go tell Marcus and his Merry men that I was going to have to leave Mexico to run an errand. That was going to be difficult and I already knew they wouldn't take it lightly.

I trudged down the staircase at the motel and found Marcus, Wade and Amelia by the poolside. Marcus was shirtless and in Bermuda shorts, wearing expensive sun glasses and rubbing sun block on his arms. I rolled my eyes as I walked towards them, "You're sun-bathing with an ample amount of sun-block on. The whole point is to get tanned, Marcus."

He looked at me from over his sunglasses and flashed me a white-teethed smile, "It impresses the ladies, what can I say?"

"So, Sydney, are you coming surfing with us or what? There's this bonfire party by the beach afterwards, I'm pretty sure they've got marshmallows and cute boys." Amelia offered, she was in the pool, staring up at me from the edge. Despite being inside the swimming pool, Amelia's hair and face were perfectly dry.

I sighed and took a seat on one of the lounging chairs that faced them, "Thanks but I can't… And I actually have to talk to you guys."

Three inquisitive pairs of eyes peered up at me. I took a deep breath, here goes nothing…

"Something's come up in Palm Springs and it's very important. So I—I'll be leaving tomorrow morning to go back. I don't know how long it'll take me so I think you guys will have to carry on without me for now." I chose my words very carefully, but Marcus looked upset already.

He sat up straight, pulling off his sun glasses so his blue eyes could prove to me that he wasn't okay with this. "Where is this coming from, Sydney? Is it the dreams? - it's those dreams, right? Or have you been talking to—what's-his-name? Adrian? Is he filling your head with all this? I thought you made a solid decision when you chose to come with us—A _final _decision."

I groaned, thinking that this was going to be harder than I had initially imagined. "I did but as I told you, something has come up. No, I do not speak to Adrian—It's not even about him! Look, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to bail on you guys. You've been very nice to me and I appreciate it but I've got to do this."

Marcus scoffed, giving me a look of extreme disapproval. "We thought you were cool, Syd. We thought you were one of us. We let you in. You know all our secrets—"

I cut him off this time.

"And they will stay secret, you have my word. I'm not ditching you or telling on you, everything will go as planned; you'll just have to do it without me. I have a responsibility back at Palm Springs, I can't pretend like it doesn't exist."

"Yeah? Well, that's exactly what you did when you chose to come with us."

I tried not to pay heat to that comment and went on, "I'm sorry, I have to go. And a piece of advice? Maybe you should do something about Master Jameson and the information you've obtained instead of sitting on your butts all day and drinking margaritas."

I wasn't one to be harsh like that, the comment had literally come out of nowhere. I started to turn on my heel to leave, I could feel Wade and Amelia's scowls on my back—and Marcus's incredulity.

"Sydney!" He called out, but I didn't turn around, I just kept walking away.

"Wait up!"

He was following me, so I skidded to a stop and turned to face him.

"What is it, Marcus?"

"Will you come back?"

I took a deep breath, peering at Mexico's blue, blue sky and Marcus's inviting grin. Then, I began to think about Jill's warm smile, friendly conversations with Eddie, Angeline's constant blabbering and Adrian's precious green eyes and soft lips. Then I thought about everything else about Adrian—His jokes and innuendos, his expensive cologne, and the way I felt when I was in his embrace.

"I don't know, Marcus… but I will."


	2. Mexican Reunion

**A/N: I haven't gotten many responses from you all, but thanks to the ones that did follow or favorite. It means a lot. If you like my work... I hope you don't mind me requesting you to help me spread the word a little? Thankyou. Enjoy. :)**

**P.S There is PLENTY of angsty Adrian to come; don't you worry, Natasadeli ;)**

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong> - Adrian

_All those words, came undone  
>And how I'm not the only one<em>  
><em>Facing the ghosts that decide if<br>_  
><em>The fire inside...<em>

_still burns_

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><p>Mexican Reunion<p>

"We're going to be trying out abstract painting today. Allow your thoughts to run wild and let them reflect onto the paper. Remember, give every stroke of paint meaning—bring it to life by merely the train of your feelings and emotions. I want you all to think about your deepest and darkest fears when you work today. Show me what your fears would look like in the form of abstract art. By the way, this is going to incorporate for at least sixty percent of your grade."

Our art teacher, Mrs. Valentine, explained.

I took a deep breath and looked at my blank canvas. I hated when they made us do work on specific topics. I liked to have all my options open, I liked variety. I didn't think that I could  
>get very creative with extremely limited choices on my hands.<p>

"You know what's my darkest fear? Mrs. Valentine in a mini-skirt. I mean, look at those thunder thighs. Ack!" Rowena Clark said, leaning towards me and grinning.

Rowena and I had met on the first day of our mixed media class and bonded almost instantly. I didn't think anyone else in the entire class was more fit to be my friend. She was my perfect match, except for the fact that she liked girls and I was still hung-up on my last disastrous love affair.

"It's disturbing that you've dwelled upon Mrs. Valentine in a mini-skirt." I deadpanned.

"Oh, pfft!" Rowena chuckled, hitting me lightly on my arm.

"Less talking more working, people. Come on." Mrs. Valentine roamed the length of our spacious classroom and clapped her hands repeatedly.

I went back to staring at the open canvas. I wanted to paint, I wanted to get my mind off the thing that was bugging me, but it was pretty close to impossible. The fact remained that I was still the lovesick fool that I'd always been and wasn't able to get Sydney Sage out of my head, even two months after she'd left me for margaritas and a bleached blond idiot.

It was puzzling; really. I'd been so damn determined that she was going to change her mind and come back to me that I'd gone through the trouble of setting up a message with coordinates to one of the best museums in Malibu for her. I still remembered it like it was yesterday. I had stood there, at the stupid indoor garden, waiting for her to come to me. It was a December afternoon; I'd been pumped on nothing but adrenaline. The garden was gorgeous, it had a built-in pool and everything. I remember waiting there for over three hours, so sure that she would come, until I got a phone call from Jailbait telling me that Sydney had boarded the train.

It broke my heart and it was like every lesson that Sydney had taught me was tossed right out the window. I began to smoke and drink more than I did back when Rose dumped me for the tall, dark and Russian warlord. God, it had been terrible. I remembered Jailbait and the rest of the gang calling up Sydney on her birthday to wish her; and I'd refused to talk.

I wasn't one for holding grudges; but it hurt. Everytime I thought I was over it, I just closed my eyes and saw her angelic face. Those majestic amber eyes littered with golden specs—mocking me, her flaxen hair flying in the wind, and her evil laughter echoing right into  
>the freaking depths of my soul.<br>_  
>Hell with her.<br>_  
>"Uh oh," Rowena's voice pulled me out of my vicious thoughts,<br>"You're doing that thing again."

I frowned, "What thing?"

"I don't know but it makes you look like a serial killer. Your left eye starts to twitch, your nose gets all wrinkled and you scowl for a good five minutes, staring off into space."

"Oh,"

"It's that mythical ex-girlfriend you've been going on and on about, isn't it?"

"No," Unfortunately, lying to Rowena was pointless. I'd only known her for a few weeks,  
>but it felt like she knew me… well, some of me.<p>

"Oh, please—don't bullshit me. I know a moping, brooding soul when I see one. Cupid did you wrong and now you seek justice. You want to go avenge the kingdom of the down and the duped."

I knew that she was simply being sarcastic, but I almost wished there was a way I could punch something in the face so that I could feel better.

She took a lock of her recently dyed lavender hair in her finger and twirled it around,  
>"Do you want me to help you? I have a friend who has a friend who has a cousin who could totally hook you up with, like, this really slutty group of sorority girls. It'll be like an All You Can Bang Buffet. What do you say?"<p>

I arched an eyebrow at her, a little amused. "Is that Plan B if things go kaput with Tessa?"  
>"Hey," Rowena raised her arms in mock surrender, "I was only trying to help, man."<p>

We didn't talk much after that and I carried on trying and failing to be creative. I even got a dangerous death stare from Mrs. Valentine, who usually loved my work. After class, I was walking with Rowena towards the parking lot, my hands in my pockets.

"So at what stage of your emotional turmoil are we on? Is she the one that got away or the frigid bitch that did you wrong at the moment?" She questioned, I suppressed another chuckle. "Probably both."

"Okay, both it is. Ugh, Sydney is such an inconsiderate bitch, god, I hate her so much for doubling my man pain and hurting my fragile heart. Oh, but I miss her so much… She was the one, you know? The love of my life. I'll never meet someone like her! I must go drown my sorrows in tobacco and hooch till I can feel again!"

I rolled my eyes at Rowena's mocking words and put a hand to my heart, "Ouch,"  
>I grinned at her, "You're being extra sarcastic today."<p>

"Well, since you've got your monthlies I thought I'd do it for the both of us."

I drove home in silence which was pretty abnormal for me. I usually blasted the radio,  
>let down all my windows and relished in the road ahead. My moodiness probably had something to do with my spirit use. Recently, I'd limited using it, since I wasn't visiting anyone in their dreams or healing stuff I was pretty much five by five. All I used spirit for now was to read auras and that had become a guilty pleasure, one which I was not proud of.<p>

It sucked to be a spirit user, no wonder they all either died or went insane.

If you used too much of it, things got bad and if you didn't use enough, same consequences.  
>I'd been having some serious withdrawal symptoms because I'd been keeping my spirit usage very suppressed and it was coming to a point where I missed it. Usually, the alcohol I drank<br>just numbed it down, but these days, it wasn't as easy to get drunk or shut out the spirit.

The darkness and the pain was always there, looming in the background; sleeping, waiting.  
>I could feel it simmering inside of me at random times of the day, usually in the brighter hours I'd just down enough alcohol and smoke enough cigarettes to keep me distracted with my mind away from it all, but it got harder every time I was alone at night and turned off the lights.<p>

I'd done some reading on spirit users before, also learnt a couple things from my friend, Lissa. There were all kinds of fairy fables about it, of course. Some people said spirit users were abominations, some said we were mentally insane, others thought we were gifted; miracles with legs. It was different with everybody. A lot of people even refused to believe we existed; thought we were myths. I'd seen the effects of Spirit use first-hand, Lissa used to cut herself because of it. And I'd brought Jill back to life using it.

Why did I have to be cursed with spirit anyway? I often thought how cool it would be to wield power over water like Jailbait, or even kick some ass with the fiery talents that Christian had.  
>But no, I had to be stuck with the crappiest of Moroi talents. Just my luck.<p>

My mind was a weak little thing, I was in the throes of spirit more often than I'd liked to admit. On a good day, I just hid it and nobody would be able to tell. On the bad days…  
>The bad days were a pain in the ass, there was no telling what would happen to me.<p>

I sighed and piled all the spirit driven thoughts to the depths of my mind, parked my car, a proud yellow mustang that did nothing but remind me of _her_; and began to walk towards my apartment. That's when my phone buzzed; it was Jailbait.

I picked up almost instantly, "Ah, a little sunshine to brighten my day. What's up, Jailbait?"  
>Her voice was extremely squeaky, like she was high on caffeine. I'd come to know it as her happy voice, "Adrian, you've got to come to Amberwood. Like, now."<p>

I frowned, making a mental list of the things I'd had planned for the day. The list was neither long nor productive, so I shrugged, "Sure. What's going on?"

"I—I don't want to ruin the surprise so I can't tell. Just get here! Quickly!"

"Jailbait—"

But she'd already cut the phone. So I did what any other logical person would do in my position, I got back into my car and drove to school because the fifteen-year-old told me to.

xxxxx

I trudged towards Jill's room and knocked twice on her door, loudly. I was a little irritated and testy, probably because I hated wandering around Amberwood's extra-confusing campus. Vampire-friendly it was not, with all those open air lawns with the sun shining down to make me feel like an Adrian-sized kebab.

Sure, Moroi didn't get burnt into crisps like the Strigoi when it came to the sun, but it tried its very best to make us feel sick and uncomfortable if we stood directly in it for too long.  
>Angeline, Jailbait's mouthy roommate and guardian, opened the door. "Oh, great. You're here. Jill was talking my ear off about how excited she was. It was starting to give me a headache." She announced grumpily, leaving the door wide open and stepping aside so that I could come in.<p>

Angeline was nice, I always liked people who complimented me at first sight; but recently she'd cheated on Castile and that wasn't boding well with anybody. Were all girls like this?  
>For someone who'd been with so many one would think I would know. I walked in and looked around, "Where is she?" I asked.<p>

Angeline crossed her arms over her chest, "Where is who?"

"Jailbait."

Angeline walked over to the table and grabbed a Biology textbook, "Oh, she should be here soon. She told me not to let you out of my sight while I wait." I frowned and sat down on the couch in their dorm room, still a little dazed and confused. Angeline wasn't doing a very good job at keeping her eye on me, as she was flipping through the pages of her textbook rather strenuously.

"Ugh, I hate biology. I mean, who cares how a cell divides? It just does."

I didn't bother responding to her, Jailbait's shady behavior was starting to test my patience and I felt the immediate need to smoke and let off some steam. I shifted uncomfortably on the couch, before I could ask Angeline about what Jill was up to again, someone walked in.

I stood up and froze in place. A dozen feelings and emotions began to run wild, and I had this sudden ache in my chest that was levitating around inside me. My mouth dried up and I had to bawl my fists and dig my nails deep into the palms of my hands to keep them from shaking. What the hell was she doing here?

Sydney stood at the doorway, her blonde hair perfectly brushed, wearing her obligatory formal skirt and shirt. She looked a little tired, there were dark rims just beneath her bleary eyes and my vampire senses told me that she had been drinking tons of coffee because she smelt like she'd bathed in it—something which didn't come to me as a surprise.

God, I hated surprises.

The look on her face seemed to be wistful and etched with longing, but I couldn't tell for sure.  
>What I did notice, that unlike the Sydney who'd laughed at me in my head, this one simply looked apologetic and rather vulnerable. All the pent up anger that I'd kept bottled up within me seemed to melt away in a heartbeat.<p>

Of course I'd thought about what would happen if I saw her again, that was a no brainer.  
>I'd planned this long, dramatic, angry speech so that I could make her feel as bad as I did when she'd broken my heart for the billionth time. I knew that there were numerous things that I could say to her, I could start with one of the many taunts I'd thought up while she was away, or with a witty insinuation, but instead, I went with something like, "Hey,"<p>

It was so lame that Captain Underpants could have flown in and smacked me in the face.

Sydney took a deep breath and walked in, trying to put on a brave face and smiled. Angeline was the first one to break the silence and spare us both the awkwardness. "So _you're_ the reason Jill's been all over the place this morning. That explains it. I'm glad to have you back, now maybe Adrian and the rest of these people will stop moping over you like little babies."

Sydney's eyes swiveled to Angeline, "Thank you, I suppose?"  
>Angeline grinned wide, "You're welcome. Uh—Do you guys need a minute to yourselves?"<br>Sydney began to say, "That's not necessary-" but I cut her off.  
>"That would be nice, yes."<p>

Angeline, thankfully, got the message. She grabbed her Biology textbook and walked right out the door, shutting it behind us so that we were now stuck together in a confined space, alone, with all our problems bubbling up to the surface.

It was suffocating.

Sydney kept averting her eyes, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out she was trying her best not to look into my eyes. So, naturally, I did exactly that. I stared right into those amber eyes I'd missed so much, "Why are you back?" was all I said, my tone was extremely apathetic.

"I've been having some ominous dreams, I talked to Mrs. Terwilliger and she sounded extremely frantic on the phone; she requested that I come back." I arched an eyebrow at her, I didn't need to communicate with words how I felt about that. Her response sounded flat and stupid, and I couldn't believe that she'd run off to Mexico promising she would never come back to me, but came running when Jackie had a problem.

"And I missed everyone here. I—I missed you, Adrian. I know that this sounds foolish right now but if I'm being honest, Mexico was a disaster. It was stupid, it was a whim… I acted on impulse, which is something I never thought I'd say, by the way." I simply crossed my arms over my chest, feeling unconvinced.

Sydney finally met my gaze and raised a hand in expression, "I could give you a whole, enumerate speech about how sorry I am and how wrong I was for going to Mexico with Marcus and his Merry Men but I already know that will not mean a thing to you. I wish I'd thought this through, I mean, its all I thought about on the plane—I even made some stupid charts, they were color-coded and everything. I even googled 'How to get a loved one to forgive you' online! Adrian…"

I had to put a finger on her lips to get her to stop talking, I was afraid if she went on further without taking a breath she would start hyper-ventilating. If the circumstances had been any different I would have probably gone for a kiss to shut her up; but for now, I didn't take that risk. Her eyes fell down to look at my finger on her lip, I could feel the warmth of her skin under my own and immediately peeled it off before I lost all train of thought.

"Breathe, Sage, I'm not going to kill you." I muttered. She smiled just a little, "Is it strange that I want to tell you about all the heavily ridiculous experiences I've had these past two months instead of debating on about my decision?"

I felt a smile tugging at my own lips. "I think it's a smart way to get yourself off the hook, but you look jet-lagged and tired and I don't wanna pressure you anymore. Also, I'd like to hear about that Surfer boy's dreams crashing and burning. So, let it out."

Oddly enough, she sat down after that and we talked straight for two hours. It almost felt like no time had passed at all, I was still mad at her, somewhere down there but just seeing her back with me, talking her heart out. With her eyes filled with light and her smile so very telling, I couldn't help but feel a little relieved and inspired.

"Oh, and this one time, Marcus managed to convince this group of teenage boarding school girls that he was a Russian spy working for the government, it was so funny because—"  
>Her eyes suddenly went wide and she quit what she was saying abruptly,<br>"Did you know that Wolfe bakes cookies in his free time? He's the strangest man… but his cookies taste really, really good. Oh, he had these hilarious ninja magnets on his refrigerator—I thought you'd like those. At least, that's all I could think about during my visit there."

Sydney told me all kinds of stories, when she started talking about Wolfe, I was actually amused. "How long have you been holding that one down?"

It was weird how it all felt so very normal, we were supposed to be mad at each other, things were supposed to be awkward and intense. Instead, we were trading stories like some long lost friends.

Finally, there was a knock on the door and Angeline was back, with the news that there was a call for Sydney, which was her cue to leave. I was a little floored when I took a look at the time, it was almost their curfew—which meant that I'd overstayed my welcome.

"It's nice to have you back Sydney. Jill and Eddie say they want to meet you." Angeline offered, strolling back in with three large books tucked under one arm.

Sydney turned to look at me, and offered a rueful smile, "Adrian… Just because you allowed me to open up to you, it doesn't mean I'm off the hook, does it?" Her expression grew hopeful.

Before I could reply, Angeline chimed in, her voice slightly annoyed; like she'd had a bad day. "Go away now." She was looking directly at Sydney, but I knew that she was addressing the both of us. Angeline was very literal that way.

Sydney nodded, but she was clearly hoping for an answer. I wasn't sure how to respond to that, but I settled for something that would provide me some satisfaction for all the torturous days gone by without her. I gave her a smug, slightly sarcastic smile.

"Not by the slightest, my love."

xxxxx

The next three days were strictly Sydney-free.

Which after our last bittersweet yet abundantly confusing encounter, I was fine with.  
>I stuck by my per diem routine. I'd go to college for class, hangout with Rowena (and her girlfriend sometimes) after, then come back home. At home I usually painted, or tried to finish up the latest instructive project I'd been given by Mrs. Valentine. Later, I would spend my time drinking and listening to Pink Floyd's albums, oh, and feeding our love child the grumpy callistina dragon.<p>

The little guy really had an appetite on him, and chocolate cookies made him testy and overly hyper. I'd feed him anyway, though, to get the screeching to stop. Hopper was cute, for a dragon—I'd always pictured dragons to be large and majestic, Game of Thrones style. This tiny dude wasn't what I'd expected, but he still made a badass pet. Unfortunetely, I couldn't tell anyone about him because Sydney made him out of magic. Literally. And she was the only one who could convert him back into an inert piece of smoky quartz.

That evening, as he licked frosting off the donut I'd just fed him, I thought it was time Sydney took him. I'd had him long enough, two months in her unrequited absence, to be precise. I watched him gobble up what was left of the donut from the glass aquarium he called home.  
>"Hopper, you're one greedy little dragon. You know that?" I spoke to him, he made a sound that was close to a cat's mewling before falling asleep.<p>

I sighed as I backed away from the vivarium and jumped onto bed. Suddenly, my phone rang and I smiled slightly at the name that flashed.

"Well, if it isn't Her Majesty. Planning to take a day to kick back and blend in with us mere peasants? You know you can't have the best of both worlds, Liss."

Lissa Dragomir, one of my friends from back at my days at Court was on the other line. We didn't talk much anymore, not since she went ahead and became queen of the Moroi Royal Court and everything. She was also a fellow Spirit user, we'd taught each other quite a few tricks. Lissa laughed softly on the other end of the line, but her voice sounded tense as she spoke, "Adrian, I've missed you."

The compassion in her voice sometimes made me feel all warm inside, not that I'd ever tell her that. I grinned, "Gosh, Liss. How's the kingdom treating you?"

"Surprisingly well… For now. How's Jill and everyone else doing?"

"Everyone's peachy."

"Good… I'm glad."

"How's Christian? You two crazy kids getting along fine?"

"He's wonderful."

There was a strain to her voice, and I knew her well enough to catch it instantly. The small talk had just been for the heck of it, and I knew it.

"Not that I don't love you, Liss, because I do. But you haven't phoned me ever since you got crowned queen—which is okay, I know it's busy, maddening stuff but I know you didn't call just to ask about the weather in Palm Springs. What's really going on?" Lissa sighed on the other end of the line, which proved me right.

"Alright, Adrian. I'll… I'll cut to the chase. Spirit has been rearing its ugly head. It's been taking a huge toll on me." I frowned, "I'm almost positive that I'm supposed to respond to this in a different way, but spirit being a pain in the ass isn't exactly news."

"Oh, I mean its getting worse than usual. Yeah, spirit has a lot of side-effects, but these days… It's something else. I've been feeling these sudden pangs… I don't know why, but it's like I can feel some disruption in the nature of things. Every Moroi in the school has been having a hard time working their magics lately."

I simply nodded, "I see."

"Christian set an entire building on fire by mistake, one of the school's best water wielders lost their control and overflowed a fountain—causing it to collapse. Elemental magic is all over the place lately and Spirit has the worst effects. I was wondering if the same thing was happening with you, if you were sensing what I am. And… uh, Sonya Karp told Rose that Sydney's a witch now? Do you think you could ask her if she has any idea what's going on?"

I froze. Spirit _had _been acting up lately, but I'd just figured it was because of my withdrawal symptoms but maybe—maybe it was something else entirely.

"Okay, now that's plain weird," I confirmed, "Spirit has been a bitch lately, more so than usual. So I'd probably have to go with a 'yes'. You okay?"

Lissa's voice was clearly unhinged, "I am, but I'm starting to have a very bad feeling about this. All of today's classes were cancelled due to elemental magic going crazy. And Adrian? There was a death on campus. Whatever is causing all this, it's strong and it could be fatal in the long run."

I took a deep breath, "You hang in there, cousin. I'll talk to Sydney—I think she knows a coven of witches who could help, too."

"That'll be great; Adrian. Listen to me, please take care of yourself and Jill, too—but especially of yourself. This thing, whatever it is, it's targeting Spirit users. Sonya feels it too."

This didn't surprise me in the least. My response was dry, "No wonder Spirit users are so few and far between, we've got the highest mortality rate. They always get to us first."

"Yeah," Lissa's voice was quiet. "Yeah, they do."


	3. Blood Is The New Black

**A/N: Quick note. I know this is all going to be a little confusing at first, but hopefully the premise of this story will make itself clear in the coming chapters. I guess I'm a sucker for ambiguity and have a thing for keeping my readers guessing and on their toes. xP**

**Credits: This chapter contains dialogue adapted from "The Fiery Heart" written by Richelle Mead.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Three<strong> - Sydney

_Now all your love is wasted_  
><em>Then who the hell was I?<em>  
><em>'Cause now I'm breaking at the britches<em>  
><em>And at the end of all your lines<br>_

* * *

><p>Blood Is The New Black<p>

Mrs. Terwilliger looked like one of those Disney movie she-villains.

She had settled into a new home pretty quickly after her last one burned down, courtesy of an unstable, homicidal witch. All her cats lounged around the small space, purring, sipping milk or licking their own behinds. I wouldn't go as far as to say that her humble abode was neat and tidy, but most of her things were boxed up around the house and kept away from the important stuff. Said important stuff being witch material.

Material used for spells, crafts, the works. The house was already encompassed in the smell of incense, candle wax and kitten litter. It was beginning to look almost identical to her old home, now that I thought about it. Mrs. Terwilliger herself was a mess. Her hair was sticking out in unpleasant angles, and they looked like they hadn't been combed in days. Her robes were wrinkly and her face was worn out, she had huge dark circles under her eyes that looked almost foreboding in the candlelight.

I hadn't met her in the last three days because after rushing me back to Palm Springs, she'd made a little impromptu trip to god knows where.

"I don't want to sound disrespectful, but you called me here and then conveniently dissapeared for three days! What's going on?" I asked, feeling a little disoriented. Mrs. Terwilliger flashed me an unapologetic look, "I was out on business, running an errand. As I said, you are here because it is important. It is precisely why I had to call you here on such short notice. I'm glad you came by the way, I thought I wouldn't be seeing you again after you skipped town."

"Alright. So what is it that was so important that I had to come here in person?"

"Is that hostility I am sensing, Miss Melbourne? Need I remind you that I did not have to put in a fair lot of persuading in getting you here. I'd even go as far as to state that you are here on your very own terms. I believe you have some… unfinished business here?"

I frowned, deciding that she only ever called me by that old nickname when she was upset. She didn't have to say it; Mrs. Terwilliger usually kept our relationship strictly business. She didn't try to poke and prod around about my personal life, but the jab was clearly about Adrian. I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest,

"I'm sorry. Please, tell me what's happening around here. What do my dreams mean? Why did you sound so shaken up on our phone conversation? Is… Is it Alicia again?"

I had so many questions, and I wasn't sure how willing Mrs. Terwilliger was when it came to revealing information. She could be a little difficult to work with.

She sighed and picked up a cup of coffee that had somehow skipped my notice, she took a few long sips before setting it back on the table and sitting down on the chair. She signaled me to take a seat on the one opposite to her's. I tried my best to ignore the fresh smell of caffeine, which was actually quite easy in Mrs. Terwilliger's home—where all sorts of scents and smells go to relax and be themselves.

"No, it isn't Alicia, unfortunately… We don't know what or who it is quite yet. Your dreams can have multiple meanings, I spoke to some of the more experienced witches in my coven, and even they seemed to draw a blank at what exactly it is that we are dealing with."

I felt my frown deepen slightly, that wasn't much to go on. "I need you to start keeping a dream journal. Keep a record of your dreams—if you get any more, and report to me afterwards."

Mrs. Terwilliger didn't seem to notice when I shifted uncomfortably and went on talking,  
>"I have been getting dozens of reports from witches, allies and the likes about elemental vampric magic acting up, as well as a ripple being caused in the balance of things. Someone seems to be tampering with the magical and vampric worlds, dabbling in magic that is very, very powerful and beyond us. The problem that arises here is that the roots of such severe magicks come from the dark arts—and that is never good. I haven't come across a dark magic dweller in years, they're rare… and dangerous. If that is truly what is causing these interferences then…" her voice trailed off as the doorbell sounded out.<p>

Mrs. Terwilliger looked confused, "Now, who could that be?" I shrugged, "It must be Adrian. He called me this morning, specifically asking if he could drop you a visit. Since I was coming over to meet you anyway…" She dismissed me with a wave of her hand, "Let him in, its no problem."

I nodded and walked over to open the door. I'd never admit it, but sometimes I got the feeling that she liked Adrian more than she liked me, and _of course_ she liked Adrian—he's Adrian, but it still made me slightly jealous and I never understood why.

I guess Adrian just had that effect on the female gender as a whole.

Adrian flashed me a white-teethed grin as he strode in and I closed the door shut behind him, "Thanks for letting me crash the tea party, Sage."

I stopped myself from responding to that and followed him back to Mrs. Terwilliger's living room. She piped up as she saw him, a chubby orange tabby now perched on her lap. She stroked the cat behind the ears and smiled at Adrian, "It's good to see you, Adrian."

He returned the smile, "How's it going, Jackie?" I'd almost forgotten they were on a first name basis. Or, nickname, I guess. I plastered a smile. "Not fairly well, I'm afraid." Mrs. Terwilliger announced honestly, and Adrian shook his head like he knew. "That's actually why I wanted to talk to you. I had quite the conversation with one of my friends from the Moroi Royal Court recently and she thinks that something's disrupting the natural pattern of things or something? Moroi Elemental magic is all over the place, they even cancelled most of the regular classes."

Mrs. Terwilliger's face grew dark, like she knew this was going to happen. I tried to scan Adrian's face for more information and felt a sudden pang of tingling pain in my chest. Was Rose the friend from Court that he was talking about? I liked and respected her, but I could see the appeal he had for her…

_Stop it Sydney. First off, Adrian is not the reason you are back, secondly, you know that you are all he ever thinks about. So, let's not play the blame game._

Sometimes, I hated my conscience.

"Didn't you mention something about elemental magic and interferences? Does this tie into the same thing?" I questioned and Mrs. Terwilliger nodded, "The magical world of witches don't cross with the vampric one. Most of them, on both sides, didn't even know about each other. However as time passed on, our worlds were bound to clash in more ways than one. We accepted each other, and kept our involvements in one another's business to a minimum. Both worlds were comfortable on their sides, as long as each promised not to cross any lines. It was the only way to maintain peace."

Adrian listened to her talk quite intensely, he got that look in his eyes that he got every time he was trying to understand something. Sometimes, he tilted his head to the side like a dog, it was kind of… cute. Then I realized that I was supposed to be focusing on my teacher's words; not Adrian's cuteness.

"Let me take a guess, someone's plotting a World War between the witches and the vamps?" Adrian asked, his tone inquisitive. Mrs. Terwilliger thought about this, her orange pet jumped off of her lap and scurried off. "Something like that, but as I said earlier, I'm not quite sure what this someone wants, or what they'll gain out of this spectacle. There is a balance, you see, that has to be maintained. Witch-Magic and Vampire-Magic are not supposed to be crossing each other, not really. That is how it has been for generations now. Usually, we only clash when it's necessary."

I bit my lower lip, "What do you mean?"

"Well," Mrs. Terwilliger took another sip of her coffee, "Magic is a very complicated subject, my child. It took some of the greatest witches of our time years to simply come close to figuring it out. There are a lot of nuances here, dealing with internal and external magic."

Adrian scoffed, "That sounds unpleasant," I couldn't help but agree. Mrs. Terwilliger shrugged, "Inez, a very powerful witch that I know once told me something about internal and external magic. It gets more complicated when you compare Moroi and human magic, you see. Sometimes they behave similarly, sometimes completely differently. And sometimes, they contradict each other."

"Contradict each other?" Something in those words pricked my inner alarms.

"External, internal. Two sides of the magical coin. Sometimes they clash."

I took a deep breath, feeling slightly light headed. I hadn't sat back down since I'd opened the door for Adrian. He seemed to notice this, his eyes flashed with something like concern, "Haven't you heard the quintessential term that people use before delivering bad news?" He asked Mrs. Terwilliger, who just frowned in response. "You need to sit down for this."

I did as I was told, because I felt like my knees would buckle and betray me if I didn't. I gave him a silent nod of appreciation, he just rolled his eyes like my regard for him was frustrating.

"As I was saying, our worlds clashing is not a good thing. I'm not exactly sure what will happen, but I predict mayhem in both worlds. This could in turn affect the Alchemists, too." Mrs. Terwilliger muttered, eyeing me. I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath.

"If the Alchemists are unable to do their jobs right, and that could happen. Then… there's this whole other possibility that the general public will find out about us." She nodded solemnly, "That is true. The cat will be out of the bag. We can expect everything that both worlds have done to keep things in order disrupted within the time span of simply a few days." I shook my head, "No, we can't let that happen."

Adrian sounded as melancholy as I suddenly felt, "And we know nothing about who could be behind this? Not one lead?" Mrs. Terwilliger looked truly upset as she nodded no, "Not a clue. Except for the fact that this person could be armed and dangerous."

"We won't let that happen, though, right? You—You're a powerful witch, and you've got the coven and… and you told me that I've got merit, right? I'll… I can help! I'll do whatever it takes. I'll cast a million spells if that's what's needed to stop this from happening."I was aware that I was babbling, which was something that I never usually projected myself to. I considered myself the picture of morality and patience. It was stupid though, because if past events were any indication, I was simply deluding myself.

Mrs. Terwilliger sighed, "Yes, but I'm afraid that there isn't much we can do." Adrian looked furious now, "That's all? That is your brilliant plan? To surrender and wait for the storm to take you? I thought you were better than that, Jackie." She glared at him, "This is not a joke, ," there was a sudden venom to her voice. It was uncharacteristic for her to behave that way. She was frantic sometimes; hyped on coffee, she could be cranky, too. If she wanted. Easily angered however, she was not.

"Something wicked is seriously brewing and there is not much that we can do about it. Still, I do have a few ideas up my sleeve. They are experimental, of course." She sounded calmer, but she still had this undertone in her delivery that was slightly condescending. I didn't think she was doing it on purpose. If I was in her place, I'd be infuriated too.

"We are not going to let some lunatic come along and destroy everything we have worked for since the beginning of time! We will not let whoever this is kill the peace between our worlds. I am going to be doing a lot of research, along with some other witchcraft experts and my coven, we will be splitting most of the work. I would like you two to help as well."

I tried to smile a little, to calm things down a notch. "We'll be there. Research is something that I'm an expert at—whatever you need." Suddenly, she looked me up and down from over her glasses and chuckled slightly. "Oh, dear, no. We have got the research part covered. I have a more, ah, special…task for the two of you."

Adrian crossed his arms over his chest, clearly curious. "What's that?"

"You are a Spirit user, and you are a witch in the making. A powerful one, might I add."

I felt my heart picking up a few paces, "What does that have to do with any of this?"

"You two are going to perform some contemporary spells together. Like test subjects. We must experiment, connect the human and vampric worlds through the means of magic and observe the results they provide. We must work together if we are to fend off against this thing."

My jaw dropped, and I could feel Adrian's hesitation through his body language.

"So we're lab rats?" He asked, staring at her with wide, angry eyes.

"No, no, darlings. You are the only two people who might be able to save our world from collapsing in on itself."

xxxxx

That night, I really hoped that the next eight hours were going to be dream-free.

No such luck.

I was on a beach. At least, it seemed like a beach but I couldn't see much. It was very dark, but the sky was littered with stars, and a pleasant full moon twinkled like a giant circular diamond. There were a few clouds drifting around too, they looked blue in the moonlight.

Well, at least this dream would be far more pleasant than the last one I had.

The sound of the waves crashing against the sandy shore was peaceful and brilliant. The cool sand between my bare toes felt relaxing somehow. I felt grounded and safe.

"I think my imagination deserves some praise. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

I looked up to see Adrian, and I realized that this wasn't a prophetic dream after all. It was Adrian's doing. I'd walked in dreams with him before, this wasn't the first time. In fact, we'd gotten quite hot and heavy over dinner plates and china during one of these dreams. Still, I felt like I would never get used to spirit's many fortes.

"Why a beach?" I quizzed, not that I was complaining. Since Adrian and I hadn't spoken in so long, it felt weirdly soothing being in familiar territory with him again. It was strange, thinking that—considering not too long ago I was freaking out when I'd been pulled into one of Adrian's dream meetings. I had been scared out of my mind, finding all of this spirit and vampire magic stuff absurd and deviant.

It was funny how life worked in twisted ways. Considering that I was now a witch and couldn't even deny it. Adrian shrugged, walking over to me. He was barefoot, too. He wore a red button-down shirt, the material was tactile and looked soft…velvety. His eyes looked greener than the sea; and his hair were naturally messy in this dream-version of himself.

Usually, he let me pick the place. It was always different, though. Sometimes we both were wearing what we wore when we fell asleep, other times he'd ask me very politely if he could put a cocktail dress or something of that sort on me. Tonight, though, was thoroughly his depiction.

I wore a lose sea green beach dress that fell down to my ankles. It was made of cotton and felt cool against my body. "I don't know. I read somewhere that pristine beaches are the ultimate haven; full of peace and tranquility. Thought that would be a nice change of pace from the real life crap that's going on. Plus, I like seeing you in summer outfits. _Very_ flattering." He said, a mischievous curve to his mouth. I smiled slightly and walked with him, letting my arms hang lose.

A gentle breeze ruffled my hair, and some strands flew directly toward my face, I pushed them away. "I never thought I'd be in an Adrian-induced dream again," I admitted, Adrian sighed, "Dissapointed?" I shook my head no, "Not at all. I'm kind of glad that you're here. I feel oddly safer, somehow. If I'm dreaming with you then at least I don't have to worry about those creepy prophetic dreams."

Adrian tilted his head suggestively, "Yeah, I was meaning to ask you about those. What were they about?" I really didn't want to talk about it. I just couldn't tell him the things I'd seen, so I decided it was time to change the subject.

"Who called you?" Adrian frowned, looking slightly confused. "What?"

"I mean, you said that a friend from the Moroi Court called you with concerns of Moroi magic. Who was it?" I asked.

This time, I could practically see him suppressing his mirth. I'd aimed at changing the subject, and I'd apparently done _too_ good of a job with it.

"Could it be? Is it possible that Sydney Sage is jealous?"

"I didn't say I'm jealous—don't flatter yourself."

"It wasn't Rose, if that's what you're thinking. What would you have done if it _was _Rose, though?" I rolled my eyes at him, not wanting to give him the satisfaction.

"I would do absolutely nothing." I lied.

Adrian got this twinkle in his eye, one that indicated to me that he was going to unleash into a sarcastic retort very soon.

"Really, Sage? Because I worry. I worry about you, that you might be sitting at the edge of your seat, in cold sweat, panicking because your beloved is in the arms of his former lover. I worry that your blood pressure may skyrocket, or you might start frothing at the mouth, and chewing on the furniture. That much stress just isn't healthy, and we wouldn't want you to spontaneously combust."

"Oh, please," I scoffed, chuckling at his ridiculous comment. "I'm not worried."

"Is that a challenge, Sage? We could go to Court right now, you know. But then you'd have to protect me with some mystical Kung-Fu from all the screaming girls that'll be attacking us and trying to rip my clothes off. Do you think you're up for something like that?"

I laughed again, and he broke into a smile. It wasn't mocking or mischievous, it was a genuine smile that lit up his entire face.

"I'm not impressed by the talents of Jet Steele," I deadpanned, and he sighed, lifting a finger up to touch my cheek. It was the faintest touch, a ghost of a touch, actually. Still, warning bells went off in my entire body, suddenly, I had butterflies in my stomach. And they'd brought friends.

His touch was soft, warm, it spread something like desire throughout my body. It felt like pleasure. Electricity. It also seemed to give me a sense of familiarity; like the feeling one got when they returned home for the first time after a long trip abroad. I tilted my head a little, away from him. His finger was gone, and my skin itched for contact. I hated how vivid these dreams could be, I really felt like it was all real. A little _too_ real for my liking.

"Jet Steele lost his charm when he fell in love with you."

Adrian stated, his voice was hesitant, but earnest at the same time. His expression was unapologetic.

I felt my posture waver, and I stumbled just a little. It wasn't like he hadn't said those words to me before; but it was the fact that I'd never imagined I would hear them again.

"Adrian, don't…" But I sounded stupid and contrived, and I knew it. Adrian's face was like steel, "Don't what? Speak my mind?"

"Why?" I squeaked, my voice was extremely quiet, I was surprised he could hear me at all. "Why do you keep… Even when I—I hurt you so much… And you still…"

I wasn't sure where I was going with my statement. Clearly, the sand was making it's way into my brain and preventing it from functioning properly. I was practically speechless. Adrian sighed, steadying my shoulders and looking at me directly in the eyes. His eyes held so much. So many emotions and so much pain. He was so expressive and beautiful, it made my heart hurt sometimes. His voice was calm, barely a whisper,

"You don't give up on the people you love. And yes, it sounds like a crappy quote from a Nicholas Sparks movie, but I feel it, Sage. And the thing is, you feel it, too. You know you do. I can see it in your aura, I can see it when you talk to me, I can see it in your eyes. This isn't some one-sided love story delusion that's all in my head. You love me, too. But you won't admit it."

"It's not just that—"

"It's fear, that's all it is. You already gave in and ran away once. It's time you stop running. I'm not asking you for anything… Not really. But you need to stop taking orders, Marcus, the Alchemists, your dad? To hell with them, Sage!"

"That's it, isn't it? Follow orders. All my life that's what I've been groomed to do. They say jump, I ask how high and then I get the job done." I muttered carefully, having a revelation of my own. "And see how far that got you? You almost went into open rebellion on the Alchemist front—you ditched Marcus to come back, and you fell for me. You can't go back from all this now. You've already changed. You're clearly too far gone, Sage, and in this context, that's a good thing."

"I know but—" He cut me off, looking slightly angry now. He backed away from me,  
>"Do you know what your problem is?"<p>

"What?"

"Your problem is that you can't just let yourself be happy. You've got to put rules on it, and conditions. You never just let yourself enjoy being you."

I was already bawling my palms into fists as he spoke, feeling the need to defend my actions. I was ready to burst into a taunting response but stopped myself as I caught the sight of blood pouring down Adrian's right nostril. It wasn't much, but it was enough to give me the chills. I knew that this wasn't another prophetic dream, but simply the sight of blood on him was starting to appal me. Suddenly, I felt like I was in that horrible dream again, and Adrian's body was laying next to me, he was lifeless and pale. His face was sullen, his eyes were simply desolate, empty vessels—his pupils slits. The beautiful green pigment in them that I adored so much looked slimy and ghoulish now. It haunted me.

I screamed.

"Sydney? Hey, relax—" I cut him off, backing away from him.

Once I was sure that I had put enough space between the two of us, I took a deep breath and looked down, doing my level best not to meet his eyes or look at his bleeding nose. He raised his hands up in surrender and didn't take a step toward me, probably afraid that he would frighten me. That was a wise choice. "What's wrong? Talk to me."

Couldn't he see it? Couldn't he feel the blood oozing down his nose? He was a vampire, he was supposed to have a strong sense of these things. I winced, my body vibrating and goosebumps arising on my skin. I didn't think I'd ever been this afraid before. I considered myself a fairly tough person, at least in these situations, I was usually the one who knew how to hold everything together. Now, I felt like the opposite of that. I closed my eyes and opened them again, steadying myself. _It was just a dream. Just a dream_. If I kept telling myself that, maybe someday I'd believe it. Just the thought of what I'd seen that night made me sick.

When I finally spoke, my voice was extremely soft, "Your nose is b-bleeding…"

Adrian frowned, noticed, and wiped it right off with a wave of his hand. He did look slightly bothered by it; but he didn't look overly peeved. I, on the other hand, thought that if I ever saw blood again I was going to throw up. I never did have a phobia of blood, it was biology, and it was inside all of us. I had written countless reports on the origin of blood cells and was even a fan of horror flicks from time to time. I'd been rather fascinated by it when I was younger, but now that I knew what the world consisted of... vampires and witches and all kinds of incomprehensible nightmares—I was afraid. More than I'd ever been. And simply the thought of Adrian hurt or… I would not use the _D_ word!

"Okay, that's weird. Maybe it's a side effect of spirit, huh?" When I turned to look back at him, I could practically feel all the rage bubbling to the surface.

"How much spirit does it take to create these dreams, Adrian? Stop using it so much!"

Adrian shook his head like he'd heard this before, "Actually, contrary to popular belief, spirit dreams hardly take any strength at all. Usually, I'm not even tired after them. Now healing or compulsion—those are more heavy on the spirit. It's nothing to worry about."

I didn't care. The fact that he was using spirit at all, and that I was letting him, was wrong. "End this dream, Adrian. Please, just… end it. Oh, god… Didn't Mrs. Terwilliger mention that elemental magic was going out of balance? Do you think it affects spirit, too? What if it affects spirit even more than normal Moroi abilities? This…This is not good! End it."

I don't know if it was the sound of my voice or the deadly look on my face but Adrian nodded wretchedly. Before he ended the dream, he gave me this strange look… I wasn't sure what it meant, but he looked a little worried… for me.

He was worried about me? _I_ was the one who was supposed to be worried! He was using too much spirit and it was going to kill him! Or…Or something was definitely going to kill him. Something might happen to him if he isn't cautious. He just shook his head, exasperated, completely oblivious to the danger ahead.

I sighed as he started to dissapear and the darkness settled in.

xxxxx

"He has such kissable lips, doesn't he?" Jill muttered in a daze during lunch at the cafeteria the next day. Somehow, thanks to Mrs. Terwilliger and a long talk that I had with Donna Stanton, I was given admission back into Amberwood. I had some work to catch up to; but thankfully most of the teachers here adhered to me and homework was a breeze.

Jill and I were back on talking terms again and I couldn't be happier. Somehow, I knew that despite all the horrible stuff that was going on in our world, I felt good being back here in Palm Springs with the people that I had missed so much. This was my turf. It didn't completely solve all my problems; but they were easier to deal with in familiar territory—or at least, it felt that way. I turned to shoot Jill a quizzical look, "Who are you talking about?"

She was twirling her fork in her mashed potatoes, making them look even mushier; if that was possible. She'd braided her brunette locks into a neat plait and seemed to be dressed to impress in a semi-formal light pink dress, we had uniforms here at Amberwood; but she'd sent her old ones for measurement and got to wear her regular clothes for the week. I could tell that she was taking advantage of that. "Neil," she said, eyeing the new addition to our ever-growing family. He was tall and had bright blue eyes. His black hair were trimmed nearly to perfection, I could see why he caught Jill's eye—until I remembered that she was crushing on Eddie only a few months ago. "Isn't he just… perfect? I mean look at those lips. All delicate and proper and, oh I bet he flosses!" I shot her another puzzled look, "First of all, stop…You're starting to sound like my friend, Julia. And I thought we were talking about lips, not teeth. Plus, weren't you into Eddie? How are things going with that?"

The last time we spoke things weren't going so well. Angeline had cheated on Eddie and he was majorly upset, however, that also made him vulnerable which meant that Jill could make her move. Oh, god. I was even starting to think like Julia. Creepy!

At that, Jill just snorted petulantly, "Not going," she frowns, "We're not doing anything. Lately, he's been in robot-guardian mode. Which is saying something, because Neil is the Poster Child for that." I glanced at Neil again, he was cutting his peas into two with a fork. I couldn't help but agree. I had no issues with a man with flourish; but Neil came across as slightly impassive to me. Then again, I wasn't very good with people so what did I know?

"You should talk to him," I urge on, "I'm sure he'll open up to you." I was in no position to be supplying anyone with romantic advice; since I was in such a fickle position in the love department myself, but I felt good being able to give Jill advice again. Just like old times.

She smiled, practically reading my thoughts, "I'm glad to have you back, Sydney."

"I'm glad to be back," I respond sincerely.

"So is the dress to impress Neil or Eddie?" I asked, smirking at her. Jill shrugged, a playful smile at her lips, "We'll see how it goes."

Jill suddenly got this far-away look in her eyes and she began to play with her food again, "Sydney, can I ask you a question?" I nodded without thinking, "Of course you can, shoot."

"Well… Adrian's been a little upset. He's really worried about you." I sighed and took a sip of the water bottle lying in front of me, "He shouldn't be," Jill's eyes suddenly lit up and she had got this newfound vehemence in them, "Yes, he should! Do you know how he's been these past two months while you were away vacationing with that blond idiot? Miserable. It hurt him you know, that you left him like that after everything that he had planned. Now that you're back, he's confused and disturbed—he has no idea what he's doing except for the fact that he still loves you."

I wasn't surprised, this happened to Jill quite a lot. She started to speak for Adrian; it was because of the bond that they had, now that Adrian and Jill were linked, she could personally experience a lot of his thoughts. Stupid bond. She almost sounded like Adrian sometimes and that wasn't pleasant, infact, she was one of the many reasons that I'd thought up of why Adrian and I shouldn't be together. Jill would never call someone who she did not even personally know an idiot - not without being under the influence of something. Still, her words stung. I already felt terrible about what I'd done to Adrian; but realizing that by breaking Adrian's heart I'd caused a significant amount of pain to Jill, too, I only felt worse. She had to experience all of his agony first-hand and that must have been difficult.

Sometimes, I admired her for how strong she was.

I sighed; feeling extremely guilty. Jill must have read my facial expressions, or maybe she was experiencing my guilt first-hand too because her face grew sheepish, "I'm sorry," she muttered, "I didn't mean to sound… mean." I smiled back at her, pushing the tray of food away, suddenly losing my appetite. "I know you didn't."

xxxxx

Clarence Donohue and his housekeeper slash on hand feeder, Dorothy were waiting for us at the doorway of his victorian-style mansion as we walked in. Adrian was taking the wheel and driving everyone for scheduled feedings in his mustang while the Alchemists arranged for Latte's replacement. My poor brown Subaru had met a cruel fate thanks to the evil witch who'd been after Mrs. Terwilliger.

Everyone seemed to be on the bandwagon, and we were now a total of six people. There was Jill, Eddie, Angeline, Neil, Adrian and me. It was funny how out of the six of us, only two of them actually required feeding. It didn't matter though, since Jill was our number one priority and wherever she went (mostly), so did her guardians.

We walked into the mansion and I flashed Mr. Donohue a polite smile, Jill hugged him, everyone was sort of fond of the old man by now; including myself. Dorothy looked excited, like she was just waiting to get buzzed on the precious high that a vampire bite provided. Jill headed to the kitchen with Dorothy while the rest of us sat sprawled about in Mr. Donohue's living room. Sometimes I felt bad for him, to live alone in such a huge mansion.

It must be maddening.

While everybody had settled themselves in and were chatting about; Adrian grabbed my arm and pulled me with him into a corner so that we could speak. His tone was hushed,

"Listen—" he started, but I cut him off.

"If this is about last night's dream, I don't want to talk about it." I stated, my tone and posture both incredibly rigid. Adrian looked a little surprised, he blinked twice and then frowned, "That wasn't what I was going to say, but I'm glad to know that you feel so comfortable around me." His eyes told me that he felt betrayed because I didn't want to tell him everything that was going on in my heart and mind in keen detail.

I sighed, not wanting to engage in another argument over here in front of everyone, so I waved it off. "What was it you wanted to tell me?" Adrian peered around, probably just making sure nobody was listening in, and then turned back to me. We were standing dangerously close, I could smell that irrevocable scent of his latest expensive perfume, and his blue button-down shirt was doing wonders for his physique. I snapped out of it when Adrian snapped his fingers in front of my face, "Were you even listening?" I wet my lower lip and shook my head, "Sorry, I was thinking about… nevermind. What were you saying again?"

He ran a hand through his hair before speaking again, "I was _saying,_ that maybe we should tell Eddie and the rest of the Scooby gang about this whole magic world war thing." I was pretty sure he was losing his brain cells one by one. I stared at him for a long time before speaking,

"Are you insane? Is that hair gel seeping its way into your brain?"

Adrian sighed loudly, trying to make it clear to me that he thought that _I _was the insane one.

"Sage, they're going to figure it out sooner or later, and Jill already knows."

"How on earth does Jill—Oh, right." I blushed. "Exactly, plus the others are going to notice when things start to stop making sense. They deserve a prior warning; and maybe the two of us don't have to be the only people helping Jackie and her coven. I thought we could use a few extra pairs of hands."

"Adrian! This could put Jill in more danger than she's already in, so absolutely not!" Adrian groaned, "Come on, Sage. Jailbait's doing fine, and she's got Castile, Angeline and London Bridge watching her back. Not to mention the two of us. We could use the help, and you know it." I just shook my head, this was not a topic up for discussion. "We can't risk it, and I do not want to make a big scene about this."

"Did you not hear anything that Jackie was saying? Did you grip the bit about the world plunging into chaos? It already _is_ a big scene!"

I couldn't put Jill in danger on my watch, and telling everyone about it would make it an even bigger deal than it already was. On the other hand…

_You are the only two people who might be able to save our world from collapsing in on itself.  
><em>  
>I hadn't forgotten her words, in fact they were pretty much engraved in my brain in flashing neon letters. Maybe Adrian was right… "Well, Jill <em>is<em> smart and we could use the muscle…"

"See, now we're talking," Adrian coaxed, "I just don't want anybody to get hurt."

"And you think I do? I know what I'm talking about, Sage. I'll be looking out for Jailbait—and the others, every step of the way. There's nothing to worry about, okay? We've gotta look at the big picture here."

Finally, I nodded in surrender, "I suppose you're right."

There it was again. Adrian's annoying habit of always being right.


	4. The Enchanted Rose

**Credits: The rose spell that has been used in this chapter is adapted from the Television show Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997) and all rights for that go to the show's writers.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Four <strong>- Adrian

_In the darkness before the dawn_

_In the swirling of the storm_

_When I'm rolling with the punches, and hope is gone_

_Leave a light on_

* * *

><p>The Enchanted Rose<p>

"So what is this, then? Like… A Supernatural apocalypse?" Eddie Castile was staring at me like I was a mental patient.

He wasn't exactly wrong, I was on the way to insanity as it was; what with god's gift to unlucky Moroi—spirit's influence and stuff. So I wasn't as offended as I should have been. After breaking the news to Castile, Jailbait, Angeline and the imported Guardian, we were all at Jackie's house, and she didn't look too pleased about it.

She kept glaring from Sydney, to me and then back while making this irritable 'tsk' sound with her teeth. She was mad pissed. Sydney looked like she wanted to be swallowed whole, her cheeks flushed and her lashes dipped. She kept staring at the floor as if silently pleading it to swallow her up. I on the other hand, was the lone one who thought that telling the rest of them had been a good idea.

Jailbait was standing upright with a perky smile, like she could take on anything. I admired her can-do attitude, if I had half of that maybe I'd be able to submit Mrs. Valentine's projects on time. Castile was having trouble understanding that this was something that was actually happening, he kept asking us ridiculous questions and looking around the room for any sudden threats. I told him that whatever was causing this wasn't going to jump out of the shadows and attack; but he didn't buy it. Neil didn't look so good, he was sitting on one of the couches Jackie had pulled out as still as a corpse. All the color had drained out of his face and he jumped a little; startled, when one of Jackie's cat friends tried to nudge him. Angeline was simply amused by this whole thing, she kept asking when the 'fun' was going to start. I thought her willpower was adorable; the problem was that the sort of enemy that we were currently dealing with didn't have an ass to kick.

"I wouldn't term it as an apocalypse, ah… I will not rule out the possibility, however." Jackie then turned to Sydney again and crossed her arms over her chest, "How exactly are your pals planning to help?" Sydney looked like she'd been scolded by a teacher, her face blanched and I suppressed my laughter at how cute she looked when she was afraid. She didn't know that she'd crossed over to the side of us rebels a long time ago. She still had an issue with wronging authority figures.

"Well…They're all willing to help and I thought that the more people we had working to prevent this, the better. Actually… It was Adrian's idea. He'll elaborate further."

I stared at her but shrugged it off and took it like a man. All pairs of eyes settled on me, I took a step away from the wall I'd been leaning against and bowed down dramatically, "Settle down, folks." Nobody seemed amused, and I had to cut all the jokes I'd thought of and switch right to the main monologue.

"Look, if the world's in danger then I think my friends deserve to know. Jailbait and I are bonded; so she was bound to find out sooner than later. No pun intended. Now, I thought sooner would be better than later because instead of only the two of us—that's Sydney and me, helping. Now you've got all of us… Except London Bridge over there, the guy looks like he's gonna pee in his pants." Jill frowned at me and mouthed something like, 'That was not a nice thing to say!'. Immediately, she was at his side and asking him if he was okay, he nodded and looked up at me, trying to seem intimidating but failing at a level that was almost funny. "I'll be fine." He muttered through gritted teeth.

Jackie took off her glasses and began to polish them frantically, "Um… Adrian, while I completely trust you and your circle of friends… dealing with something like this… It—It requires a certain… uh… finesse."

"Way to be diplomatic," I muttered under my breath, Angeline piped up, her eyes were fierce.

"I have finesse," she insisted, "I have finesse coming out of my bottom!"

Everyone turned to shoot her a puzzled glance and she shrugged, "What?" I turned back to Jackie, "Look, Jackie. I think they can really help us here. Give them a shot, yeah?" I plastered on one of the most dangerously charming smiles that I had up my sleeve and hoped she'd fall for it. Finally, she sighed and nodded in defeat. "Alright… If you must be that way, I'll try it your way. I will give you all something to do, but you must remain covert about this. No blabbering about this to anyone outside of your group, and I—I'll try to let you participate as long as none of you are in danger of getting hurt."

Eddie crossed his arms over his chest, "Do you think the Strigoi have something to do with this?" Eddie had personal reasons for loathing our evil fangy foes but I could tell that he was hoping that he would get something to smash or kill. Jackie shook her head, "The Strigoi are dangerous, but they aren't the brightest batch. They wouldn't have the skills it takes to pull something like this off, no. This is the work of someone who is advanced in the dark arts… A magic practitioner."

"So we don't get to kill things?" Angeline sounded dissapointed, like a kid who wasn't allowed to eat her Halloween candy.

Jackie shook her head no, "You get to research and help me buy some supplies for the spells that Adrian and Sydney get to perform. Also, one of you could volunteer to fetch snacks on overly busy days."

I could already tell that Neil was calling dibs on volunteering to be Snack Boy. The rest of them looked slightly displeased but agreed anyway. Eddie hadn't taken Sydney being a witch very well - but he was getting through his initial shock, which was progress. Angeline had simply shrugged it off saying that "I knew it all along. Nobody spends that much time with a teacher, not even a nerd like Sydney." Jill already knew everything to some extent.

"Alright then," Jill said, and Eddie nodded, "Whatever it takes." At this, Jackie smiled a little,

"This is very brave and noble of you all." I grinned, at least everyone seemed to be getting along.

xxxxx

"How was class?" I'd missed my art class today because I had to go to Jackie's house with the gang. I was talking to Rowena in the evening and asking her about what went down in class, she told me there was more homework—I wasn't surprised.

"Damp," she muttered a little grouchily. "Mrs. Valentine took an off so we had a substitute. Professors who spit when they talk should come with warning labels on the course description. But otherwise fairly boring, she assigned everyone with a project that's due next Monday," she said, handing me the assignment sheet. Those assignments were really piling up and I was starting to have dreams about ditching this whole college routine.

"I'm glad I missed it, I don't like spit in my hair." I replied honestly.

"So, guess what?" I told her as we walked down the lane back towards my apartment. "You got me a pony? Geez, thanks Adrian. I've always wanted one. Will it fit in my room? Does it have purple stripes?" Rowena questioned sarcastically. I shake my head, "Sydney's back,"

She stopped in her tracks and a teasing smile played at her lips, "You're kidding!"

I nodded no, "God's honest truth, I'll even pinky swear on it." She punched me in the chest, "So? Tell me about it! Did you guys have hot, passionate sex on the hood of a police car?"

I laughed, thinking about how sex with Sydney would actually be like. I couldn't even imagine it, since we hadn't gotten to that stage yet. It was strictly making out with Sydney—not even tons of under-the-shirt action, really… and that had been back when she hadn't been scared out of her mind at the sight of me. I was still feeling a little crappy after that talk we had in the dream. The sight of a little blood had sent her over the edge and into a frenzy, that wasn't like the Sydney Sage I loved and loathed.

I mean, sure, it worried me, too. It had to be a side-effect of the elemental powers going crazy, though and nothing else, but when Sydney had met my eyes again, they were hard as steel and she looked like she'd seen a ghost. It still wigged me out, thinking of it.

"Nah, she's been a little distant. We're not really in a good place," I admitted, and Rowena started walking again, her smile dissapearing. "You still love her, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do. I love every agitating inch of her."

Rowena shrugged, "Then try to make things work. It's not going to be all plums and peaches instantly—you've gotta work for it. Why is she back, anyway? Is it for you?"

That was unfortunetely a question I couldn't answer, I couldn't tell her the real reason Sydney was back. She wasn't a vamp friend.

Plus, I had the feeling that if Rowena knew that I was a vampire, she'd start comparing me to Edward Cullen from those pathetic Twilight movies and I wouldn't ever hear the end of it.

I shuddered at the thought. "Hell if I knew."

xxxxx

"What kind of spell are we talking about?" I quizzed, but Jackie had already cut the phone.

That night, Sydney and I had received a call from Jackie asking us to come right over to her house for some spell experimentation. I wasn't particularly amused about it, but at least I'd get to see Sage—that was always a plus.

So I drove to Jackie's new apartment for the second time that day to find Sydney already over there. My heart started to beat ten times faster when I caught sight of her. It wasn't like we'd been miles apart; I'd seen her this morning… But there was a glow to her face…Or maybe it was just the hundred dozen candles that had been placed about the room that made it seem that way. Either way, she looked beautiful. She had all of her blonde hair brushed to one side of her neck and she was wearing jeans and a formal shirt. Semi-formals always suited her. She was playing with one of Jackie's many cats, the little black animal purred in her lap. Sydney's head jerked up as she saw me and she smiled warmly, for probably the first time since she'd been back. "Hey, Adrian,"

I grinned as I walked in, "He likes you," I observed.

Sydney looked down at the cat in her lap and her mouth curved a little, "What do you mean? Can you read animal auras too?" I nodded my head no, "I can just tell that he likes you, Sage. Although, I've heard that reading animal auras is a possibility. That would be cool, wouldn't it?"

Sydney nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of animals," I muttered, sitting down on the couch next to her, "I think it's time you take the dragon with you. An absent parent is not a good parent, plus I really need a break from all the screeching before my ears start to blee—" I didn't finish the sentence, thinking about Sydney and her newfangled fear of blood.

She caught it, but tried to pretend like she hadn't heard me say that.

"Oh, I'm sorry I had to keep him with you for so long. Yeah, sure… I can take him tomorrow. I'll drop by your apartment." I smiled appreciatively then opened my mouth to ask her about the dream but thought better of it.

It made her uncomfortable, so no matter how curious I was, I wasn't going to prod her about it and make things worse. Thankfully, Jackie came into the room on time and postponed any further conversation.

"I'm so happy that the two of you came. I know that it's late and you both have better things to do but I thought it might be time we began with the experimental spells." She was wearing a dark blue robe and the rims of her glasses almost fell off her nose. At least she'd decided that she needed to groom something other than her cats for once, her hair looked neater and her face looked brighter—or maybe it really was the stupid candles.

"What are all the candles for?" I asked her. Seriously, it was starting to smell like aroma therapy in here.

"It sets the mood, and fire is an element that fuels magic. Somewhat like a catalyst. Also, I like the smell of burning wax." Sydney sighed and let the cat jump off of her lap, "Did you call Amberwood?"

"I've already told them that I need to keep you extra hours for a special project. Not far from the truth, is it?" Sydney nodded.

"So what is the spell, then?" Sydney asked, echoing my thoughts.

"Ah, yes," Jackie nodded, pulling out a large book and placing it on the table. "The spell is fairly simple, since the two of you are very new at this, I don't want to pressure you." I could feel an unspoken _yet_ after her words.

"I think I'm up for anything as long as there aren't any animal sacrifices or bloodletting rituals." I joked.

Both Jackie and Sydney stared at me like they'd just been offended. I sank into the couch and shrugged, cancelling about twelve witch jokes that I'd thought up on the drive over. "Now," Jackie started, pushing her glasses up to the bridge of her nose and reading an extract from the big book. "Is that a grimoire?" Sydney questioned, which I assumed was a fancy term for _Magic for Dummies_. Jackie nodded, barely paying attention to us, "Ah, yes, it is." Sydney looked like a child on Christmas morning, her face lit up… I even think there was drool. If only she looked at me that way.

"Can I read it?" Jackie looked up from the book finally and nodded, "Perhaps, after I'm done with it. Plenty of research to do." I could already tell that Sydney was upset that she was forced to do practical work instead of theory. She enjoyed research and reading like the rest of us enjoyed a good party. It was her escape.

"Ah, so we must start with the spell, now." She announced, handing me a small container filled to the brim with some white powder. "What is this?" I wanted to know.

"It's sand," Jackie explained. "Special sand?"

"No, just sand."

"Now, I need the two of you to sit down on the floor," she requested, pointing at the ground. We did as told, and I stood up and sat back down in the middle of the floor, feeling a little stupid for unknown reasons. "Adrian, I need you to pour the sand on the floor in the design of a four-point star in a circle. Can you do that?" I shrugged, it was easy and pretty much like painting a pattern, so I nodded yes and got to work.

Meanwhile, Jackie walked over to Sydney and handed her a red rose. Once I finished illustrating the symbol, I looked up at Jackie, "What exactly do we have to do?"

"Oh. You're going to float the rose. Then use the magicks to pluck the petals off, one at a time. It's a test of synchronicity. Your minds have to be perfectly attuned to work as a single delicate implement. I need to see exactly how compatible vampric and human magic can be when focused on."

Most of what she said went over my head and came across as utter gibbersh, Sydney on the other hand, looked a little pale. I eyed her, "You okay?" She blinked and took a deep breath,  
>"I'm alright."<p>

"You know we don't have to do anything that we don't want to, Sage,"

"I know. I'm fine."

"Are you two ready?" Jackie asked, and we nodded.

Honestly, I was unsure what was gonna happen but I trusted Sydney enough to give it a shot anyway. "Now I want the two of you to concentrate while you are doing this, like you are meditating. Only, you are going to work with the power of your will. I need you both to connect on an intimate level. To achieve this, you must tune out the sounds of the trivial world around you and focus on each other. Focus on the sound of your heartbeats. Focus on your partner, try to be in tune with their thoughts. After that, as one, I need you to will the flower petals off. Do you understand?"

I sighed and glanced at Sydney, she looked a little unsettled; but as soon as she caught me staring, she flashed me a tentative smile. I smiled back and gave her hand a gentle squeeze, just so that she'd know she could be comfortable around me. It didn't seem to make her invincible, but it did seem to give her some confidence. "We understand." She confirmed.

"Alright then we shall begin. Miss Sage, place the rose on top of the circled star."

Sydney did as directed, we were sitting across from each other now; amongst the candles. There was a few meters of space between us, but it wasn't much. Sydney closed her eyes then and I followed suit. "You will start slow," Jackie directed.

Sydney reached her hands out to me and I linked my hands with hers. My palms felt warm against her skin and it was only getting warmer. It felt good, getting to hold her again. Well, technically, we weren't exactly holding each other but my skin had been tingling for her touch since she'd left. Her palms were smoothe and soft, only slightly smaller than mine and somehow they fit perfectly with each other. We just sat there opposite from each other, with the rose and the weird symbol in between us, hands held, breathing controlled. There was only silence for a few seconds until Jackie spoke again.

"Concentrate, you know what you have to do. Let it flow… naturally."

I hadn't ever performed a spell before so I wasn't sure what to do. I'd seen movies about witches and wizards, in Harry Potter they had wands. I wished we had wands. That would have been a whole lot easier than this. "Focus on each other."

I tried to do as she directed. _Block out the trivial world around you and focus on each other._

Everything was extremely quiet. It was good that the initiation of the spell required focusing on her because she was all I could focus on. The parts of my skin that touched her skin itched. If I concentrated enough, I could hear her soft breathing. Our knees and the toes of our shoes were touching, too. Between us, something seemed to be glowing, the light flickered red and gold against my closed eyelids. Incense wafted around us.

Suddenly, my finger twitched and stroked the pulse point of her wrist, I could feel it. Her pulse. Underneath my finger. I started to stroke her skin again and she didn't seem to mind. I tried to keep my thoughts as zen-inducing as possible, but it was difficult.

I focused. I counted every breath; both mine and hears. Everything was so silent I could feel my heart pounding against my ribcage, and I almost thought I could hear her heartbeat too. I focused on the way her skin felt and then tried to imagine what a floating rose would look like.

I opened my eyes when I felt something. Heat. And then a soft breeze.

My eyes flipped open and her's did too, at the same time. She gasped and I realized that something was happening. A bright light came to life on the circled star. At the same time a soft breeze sweeped through the room and the rose began to shudder. Slowly, it started to rise. When it was on shoulder-level, Jackie asked us to release our hands.

My hands were hot when I let go of hers. I rubbed them together and then stopped, realizing I was only generating more heat. _Should have paid better attention in Science class._

"It worked." Sydney muttered softly, looking slightly awed.

"Now for the hard part," Jackie's voice was calming, "The petals."

"I want the two of you to raise your left palms and place them against each other. Count the petals on the other hand, just for reference and better justification."

I glanced at the glowing red rose that was now slowly floating and rotating in the air in between us. It had five petals. We rested our left palms against each other and closed our eyes again. I focused once more on Sydney and tried to do as we were supposed to.

_Now_, a voice seemed to mutter in my mind. I took a deep breath and then put down one finger on my right hand_.One_. After a few seconds, I did the same thing for the second one as something in my head whispered '_now'. _I counted_. Two_. We went on doing this till we were done with the five petals. "Open your eyes," Jackie sounded delighted.

The hovering rose was now only a hovering stem. The rest of the petals had fallen to the ground. The spell had been successful.

I started to slow-clap, probably ruining the moment for them. "I am the Wizard of Oz," I mused, "Tremble before me!" Jackie smiled, Sydney simply kept staring at the hovering stem until it collapsed to the ground. "It's unnatural but it's so…" her voice trailed off. "Amazing?" Jackie offered, Sydney simply nodded, pretty much rendered speechless. I had to admit, it was neat.

"I don't want to pressure the two of you, and its getting quite late so we can continue tomorrow." Jackie muttered and we agreed. After wishing her good night we walked out of her apartment and headed towards the parking lot. Jackie had picked her up and taken her back to her apartment on the way there, so I was dropping Sydney back to Amberwood.

She wasn't talking as we walked towards my mustang. I didn't like awkward silences, and this one was particularly aggravating. "Jackie said that our minds had to be attuned with one another or whatever, right? So when we were plucking the petals off the rose, I thought I heard a voice in my mind. Was it you?" I asked her, the question had been bothering me ever since we'd finished the spell.

Sydney looked a little lost in thought and she wrapped her arms around herself, but that was probably because of the cold. It was strange, Palm Springs was like a giant meat locker, it seemed slightly improbable that the weather was so unruly all of a sudden. A cold wind breezed past us, as if challenging me to prove it wrong.

Yep. Definitely strange.

"Yeah, it was me…" Her voice was so faint, I wouldn't have caught it if it hadn't been so eminently quiet around here. "I didn't know magic could do that. I wonder if we could read each other's minds. Man, that'd be cool." I muttered, stealing her another glance. She glared at me, obviously not finding anything I say amusing at the moment.

She seemed disturbed, bothered. It was weird, we'd just successfully finished a spell that might help us in the long run. Her natural do-gooder instinct told me that she should be pleased. Instead she was being overly quaint and a little out of it. It's like she was physically present, here with me, but her mind was somewhere else. Normally, I'd just ask her what was bothering her, but I could tell that she really didn't want to talk right now.

Maybe what she needed was a shiny change of subject. I opened the door for her as we got to my mustang and then got into the driver's seat. Once we hit the road, I finally spoke up again. "Isn't it cold—For Palm Springs, I mean?"

Sydney was looking intently out the window while I posed my question, a few seconds later she turned to look at me. "Huh?"

"Nevermind."

"Yeah, the weather's strangely cooler than usual. Which is a good thing, I guess."

Now I was fairly certain I'd stepped into the Twilight Zone.

Sydney was an analyzer, if she saw a slight change in anything she would probably be going on and on about it by now, and I could have expected a detailed thesis on the weather change in the morning. Instead she was keeping to herself and being extremely recluse.

"Okay, who are you and what have you done with the real Sage?" I blabbed, hoping that she would catch my vibe and join us back here on planet earth. She blinked a little and then flashed me a half-hearted smile, "I'm here. Just… tired, that's all."

When we finally stopped at a signal, I got the chance to stare at her with my mouth wide open. "What?" She groaned, noticing. I shook my head and took a deep breath, "You used to be able to talk to me about everything, Sage. And now it's like we're not even friends. Your distance… just feels kinda insulting." I explained truthfully, feeling exactly like I'd described to her. Usually between banter and constantly keeping in touch with each other's lives, Sydney and I didn't ever run out of things to talk about and now it was like we were nothing but acquaintances. She must have realized as I started to drive again and the signal turned green, but she didn't respond to me, which pissed me off on an egoistic level.

I stopped the car abruptly on the side of the road. Her head yanked up to gawk at me, "What are you doing, Adrian? Why did you stop the car?" I began sifting through my pocket for my lighter and then opened the door, "Haven't you heard not to piss off the person who's currently driving and therefore responsible for your life?" I retorted, jumping out of the car and lighting a much needed cigarette. Sydney just glared back at me, "Adrian, please—don't start. Not here, not now. Just take me home or I'll get into the driver's seat and drive home myself."

I turned around after taking a swing and put a hand to my heart in mock disbelief, "Do you honestly think I am that stupid?" I dangled the car's keys in my left hand, right in front of her face, just to irritate her. She rolled her eyes and then trudged out of the car, too, banging the door in exasperation and not even caring. "Hey - your beef is with me. Don't take it out on the mustang." I muttered, patting my mustang as if consoling it.

Sydney's eyes threw daggers at me and if looks could kill…

She tapped her foot impatiently and glared on at me, crossing her arms over her chest.  
>"What do you want, Adrian? A heart-to-heart? Because I'm not sure stopping the car in the middle of the road when I'm clearly exhausted is the best way to start!"<p>

I took another long drag of my cigarette and frowned at her, "You haven't been acting like yourself lately and I know that it's because something is obviously bothering you. What is it? Let it out. I want to help. I mean—you seemed fine before the spell… Is that it? Did I do something wrong? Does it bother you that you managed to do something that would piss off your Alchemist pals back home if they ever found out? Are your primal do-gooder instincts conflicting with your goal in mind here?"

"Oh, so you are going to try to help me by throwing insults at me? That's very mature of you, Adrian." She roared, and I tossed my cigarette away, stamping on it and taking a step towards her. "No, I'm trying to do what's best for you!"

"Oh, and what makes you think that you know what's best for me?"

"I just do!"

"Wow, maybe you should open group therapy sessions! Share your talent with the world! Since you are so all-knowing, why don't you figure out what's wrong with me yourself!"

I groaned, running a hand through my hair. Sydney was really starting to get on my nerves now. I pressed my temples and looked around us to locate exactly where we were. Sydney wasn't stupid enough to try walking back to Amberwood becaue we were still a good thirty minutes away from there. I'd parked the car near a gas-station that seemed to be the only sign of civilization for the next couple miles—except for the occasional passerby car or truck.

The moon was a shining crescent in the otherwise cloud littered sky. The air was crisp and the night was cool, another thick breeze brushed past us, making the hairs on my arms stand on end. To one side of our car, there was a grass field, and the gas pump was on the other. There was no escape, so I grabbed Sydney by the arm and dragged her towards the field.

"Stop it! What are you doing?" She yelped as I sat down on the slightly moist grass on the field and ushered her to do the same. She scoffed, and shook her head, an incredulous smile appearing on her face.

"You are insane." She spoke like that was the answer for everything I ever did.

"I want to help you. Now, I know something's wrong, and until you don't tell me what it is, I'm just going to sit here. Amberwood's still briefly thirty minutes away, we are nowhere near actual civilisation and it's almost two in the morning. You've got no escape." I explained indignantly. She muttered something unpleasant under her breath but finally sighed in surrender and sat down next to me, brushing the grass and her pants to make sure she wouldn't get much 'dirt' on it.

"You are arrogant, unbelievable and really annoying. Do you know that?"

She asked, tilting her head towards me. I smiled, "I've been told."

"So are you ready to vent yet?"

"Fine," she groaned, and stared up at the sky for a whole other minute before speaking again, "You're right. The spell… it unnerved me. I'm not used to magic, even though I've already performed quite a bit of it. I just know that she's going to push us to experiment further and I'm all for it because it's for a good cause,"

I cocked my head to the side and played with a strand of her golden hair, twisting it around in my finger. She didn't seem to mind, "But?" I arched an eyebrow. She took another deep breath and exhaled, "But they drain too much out of me. I could feel a wave of nausea hit me as soon as we finished and this was only a _basic_ spell. Also… Spells like these, like the ones that Mrs. Terwilliger is talking about… well, I've read up on them. You have to rely on your partner, trust them, give your everything to them. Spells like these… they're intimate. In every sense of the word."

Okay, _that,_ I didn't know. I wasn't sure what to say, I stopped twirling. Sydney suddenly looked up at me, and touched my hand that was in her hair, but only briefly, "That's not to say that I don't trust you. I mean, if there's anyone in the world that I truly trust it's you. It's just that it's difficult for me, Adrian. Opening up in such a way… You joked about reading minds. Did you know that its possible? If I would have thought of anything other than counting those petals at that moment in the spell… You would have heard what I was thinking. That is what a test of synchronicity requires and it requires a lot of it. I have this feeling that the rest of the experimental spells that Mrs. Terwilliger is going to make us do are going to be similar."

I frowned and began to twirl her hair around my finger once more, "Don't do them, then. Jackie's not putting a gun to your head, Sage."

"I know that, but it would be so selfish of me not to! The whole world's on the line and—"

"The _whole world_ is not your responsibility and the _world _can wait."

Her eyes gleamed with something like pride and she smiled, her lashes dipping once more,  
>"I wish it were that simple."<p>

"It _is_ that simple! It doesn't matter what anyone says. I don't care if the sky turns orange and the world gets swept into oblivion, if you aren't comfortable with doing it, Jackie can find another lab rat." I was taken aback with the vehemence in my own voice.

Sydney looked equally alarmed. I didn't know what it was about this girl that brought something like that out of me, but just the thought of her putting herself on the line made anger surge through all my veins. I hadn't felt this kind of a temper before—not even towards Rose. There was a burning sensation in my gut that made its way up into my throat.

"Adrian," she mumbled, "Yeah?"

"You are the sweetest jerk I've ever met."

"Really? I'd like a certified statement for proof of this."

We were both quiet for the next few minutes. Sydney huddled a little closer to me, wrapping an arm around my waist. I held onto her with the same intensity. The night was getting colder, I almost wondered how many degrees it was. The sound of the crickets chirping, our breathing and the gentle breeze kept the night from being too noiseless. Despite how good it felt just holding on to her, I was about to suggest we head back to my mustang until she spoke again.

"My parents are getting divorced," She whispered dismally, and my head jerked up just a little.

"Another marriage bites the dust? Divorce is getting way too common in the world. Maybe the divorcees should all band together and start a convention." She chuckled softly and my grip around her tightened just slightly, "I'm sorry to hear that. Are you alright? Is that why you've been so upset?" She shook her head no, "I saw it coming from a mile away. I knew it was going to happen, I just didn't know when. It isn't even me I'm worried about, it's Zoe." I frowned, "Brat kid sister?" She nodded, "Zoe will be devastated and I know it. That's not all there is to it, my mom says that there might be a battle for custody. I don't want Zoe to end up with my father, she's already too much like him. I… I can't let her end up with him. He's a close-minded bigot who will turn her into his prodigy since I failed him on such an epic scale."

I reached out and stroked down the middle of her back, "You've got a strange definition of failed." I could feel her smile and relax into me a little, her breathing calmer now. I continued to stroke her back with my fingers. "You'll find a way, Sage. Don't forget that you managed to dodge the Alchemists more times than once over the summer. You beat a psycho witch, and you've got a dragon for a pet. You can handle anything."

"If I'm so super then why do I have a really bad feeling about what's about to come? I was so powerless in that dream…" Her voice trailed off, I grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at me, "You'll be fine. Do you understand me?" She sighed, "You promise?" Her eyes in that moment looked so full of hope and innocence that I felt like I was going to explode under her gaze. There were plenty of times when I was around Sydney that I felt like pinning her against the wall, crushing my mouth to hers and kissing her till the world ended but it wasn't usual for me to feel like I was going to spontaneously combust under her eyes.

"I promise," my voice was hoarse. We sat there for a few more minutes, we didn't talk, just hugged each other and watched the starless sky and the city lights from the distance. Finally, I felt the wind pick up some pace. I gave her back one last stroke and placed a kiss to her forehead, then I stood up and lent her a hand, "We should get going. You look like your about to turn into a popsicle." I said, she agreed and grabbed my hand.

Her hands were cold, so I rubbed them with my own, hoping to warm them up a little. She didn't say anything, but I could feel her looking at me, studying me. I didn't stop her. We walked back to my car and drove off, feeling like all the anguish from earlier had evaporated and transformed itself into pure desire.


	5. Out Of The Smoke, Into The Flame

**Chapter Five** - Sydney

_This is the road to ruin _  
><em> And we're starting at the end<em>

* * *

><p>Out of the Smoke, Into The Flame<p>

The smell of freshly ground coffee gave me life.

I'd finally done the one thing I'd been wanting to do eversince I returned to Palm Springs but hadn't had the time to do—Go to Spencer's. It was my favorite coffee shop in the vicinity and it was about time I'd paid the place a visit. I'd also been hoping to inadvertently catch an old friend, Trey Juarez. I hadn't spoken to him in ages, I didn't even get to bid him goodbye when I'd left the city two months ago. Plus, the new semester had rearranged our schedules, so we no longer got to share classes. Trey was one of my first friends here, and he was also really nice and easy to talk to. Unfortunately, things were a bit complicated, which was the new watchword in the life of Sydney Sage.

Trey had been born into a group of vampire hunters who called themselves the Warriors of Light, they were just a bunch of big-headed prejudiced people who thought they were doing the world a favor by ridding it of evil. They shared the same view as the Alchemists did of Moroi, Strigoi and Damphirs—which wasn't very ardent. Trey, though, wasn't working a shift when my turn in line finally came so I simply ordered my skinny vanilla latte and waited.

After fetching my drink, I took a seat on a table at the back and pulled out one of the books I'd borrowed from Mrs. Terwilliger. I knew that she didn't want me doing much research, but she didn't exactly set a barrier on her library. I was still me, and I was still very much intrigued by everything related to our upcoming issue.

I took a sip of my drink as I sifted through the pages and frowned when I got to a chapter that mentioned spirit. I couldn't stop worrying about what it was doing to Adrian, eversince I saw his nose bleeding and those horrific dreams—I was extremely afraid that something was going to happen to him. He seemed fine, and he hadn't mentioned anything to me, but that was just how he was. Which was unfair in retrospect, considering I usually poured my heart out to him about everything on my mind. I almost slipped up about the dreams too, last night.

An overly perky voice calling out to me hauled me out of my thoughts.

"Sydney!" It was Julia Cavendash and Kristen Sawyer, and they were walking towards me. I smiled instantly, I hadn't seen them in a long time. I'd missed them, I hadn't registered how much until I saw them again.

"Sydney, is that you?" Julia looked perfect as usual, her blonde hair was tied up in a stylish bun and she wore jeans and a cute crop top. Next to her, Kristen was clad in sweats and a tank-top. She had an athletic build and dusty skin. They grinned and waved as they came up to me. "Hey, guys," I said, standing up from my position before quickly tucking the grimoire back into the safety of my bag.

"God, Sydney! It's like you dropped off the face of the earth!" Julia mused, pulling me into a big bear hug. Kristen nodded, "Where have you been?" I sighed and asked them both to sit down, "It's a long story, but it's safe to say that I'm back now. Probably for good." I confirmed, Julia's grin widened, "That's great. We have so much to tell you!"

I just sat there with them for an hour and they talked on and on and I listened, trying my best to divert the conversation to a different topic everytime they questioned me about something relating to my 'disappearance'. Kristen tilted her head to the side, "How's the boy-toy, Sydney? What was his name again?" Julia narrowed her eyes in thought, "Was it Brandon?"

"Brayden. We broke up."

I received two very loud shrieks and one jaw drop after that.

They bombarded me with questions. "What happened?" "Why did you break-up?" "Was he not good in bed?" "Is there someone else?"

I rolled my eyes and finished the rest of my coffee in two big gulps. "We just didn't work out," I stated, deciding it was better if I didn't mention my dangerous… relationship? Acquaintance? Friendship? Alliance? Attachment? I didn't know whether I could put a label on what Adrian and I had, nevertheless, I didn't feel the need to tell them about it.

I gave them my best sad face, hoping it would put across the message that I didn't want to talk about it. In reality, though, Brayden and I had ended things on a decent note and there was almost no animosity there. I even heard he had a new girlfriend, and I was happy for him. Thankfully, they bought my oscar-worthy performance and dropped the subject after that. Julia and Kristen kept on blabbering, but soon, I was only half-listening to what they had to say. My eyes were on the television that was propped up across the room.

The weather man was talking about the possibility of snow.

I couldn't help but gape at the screen. The average temperature in Palm Springs, even during the winter was 72-75F. The place was practically a dessert. There's a possibility that it snowed on the mountains around the area, but never in the city. Julia caught me staring at the TV-screen and snapped her fingers in front of my face. "Are you even listening?"

I frowned and looked over at her, "I'm sorry… It's just… Has it ever snowed here?"

I already knew the answer to that was negative, but maybe I'd got my information wrong?  
>Kristen laughed, "You do realize we live in hell fire conditions, right? No, it never snows in Palm Springs." I nodded, "I thought so, too." And then I pointed at the TV. Kristen turned around to take a look and seemed just as astonished as I felt.<p>

Julia pursed her lip, "That is _so_ weird! Maybe it's a Global Warming thing,"

I didn't even bother to point out to her all the things that were wrong with that statement. Instead, I made a mental note to talk to Mrs. Terwilliger about the sudden climatic changes in the city and ask her if it was related to our current predicament.

After a few more minutes of talking, I decided it was time to take off, so I waved them goodbye and after promising them about a million times that I would call, I left the coffee shop. As I walked out, I felt a blast of cool air hit me instantly.

That's when I realized just how much the temperatures had seemed to drop overnight. I pulled out my phone to check the exact temperature and was astonished with the result.

I decided I better head to Mrs. Terwilliger and call on a meeting immediately. The thought of supernatural snow and magic-induced world wars seeping through my brain as I walked down the cold, narrow streets.

xxxxx

"So what do you think it'll be? A Maserati? Oh, maybe it's a Cadillac!" Adrian muttered as we walked towards Mrs. Terwilliger's house for the meeting that I'd called on. I'd gotten a call from the Alchemists today, and they told me that Latte's replacement would be delivered to me by tomorrow night, and I couldn't help but be excited about it.

"That would be amazing, but the Alchemists don't do glamorous cars - it attracts too much attention." I responded, hugging my arms around myself. I'd had to dig up some of my old coats and sweaters, and despite wearing a coat and a scarf, I hadn't packed for frozen conditions and decided I would have to go shopping later for better winter apparell. Adrian was wearing a red hoodie over his usual clothes and smelt like that amazing perfume as always. He hadn't applied much hair gel today, I noticed, so his hair looked naturally mushed. It only made him look more attractive in my opinion. More authentic, somehow.

"The Council of Alchemist Idiots have so much money on their hands, you'd think they could at least gift you a really nice car. They did practically pull you out of your life and put you on this mission, didn't they?" I nodded, it wasn't really all that far from the truth. I watched Adrian as we rounded a corner to Mrs. Terwilliger's new apartment. His eyes were a little unfocused, I frowned at him. "Did you sleep well last night?" Adrian stared down at the ground and kicked at a pebble, "I slept just as well as I do any night. Which by insomniac standards isn't all that good, I guess." His tone was earnest.

I shook my head and sighed, "I'm telling you it's spirit taking a toll on you, Adrian. Elemental magic is all kinds of messed up right now, I hope you'll be careful. It's not exactly like you're sustaining on good habits." His posture stiffened a little and he didn't respond for a long time, when he finally did, he turned to me and looked me in the eye, his eyes like green fire.

"_What_ does that mean?" He barked; I frowned, taking a step back. His expression turned into a louring glare, "You think you can taunt me? Always bossing people around like you're better than everyone else! Well wake up and smell the denial, Sage, you are _NO _better!"

His voice screeched like nails against a chalkboard and I winced. _What has gotten into him? Why does he look so mad all of a sudden?_ I played back everything I said to him and couldn't find a single thing that could have upset him to this extent.

"What are you frowning at, bitch? Don't pity me!" He exclaimed,

"Adrian—" I screamed as he grabbed me by the shoulders with animalistic force and slammed me against a barbed-wire fence nearby. The prickly spires poked at my back and I tried not to cringe in pain. He was utterly enraged, as if in a thrall.

His grip was so tight it ached. His face was merely inches away from my own and he was huffing like a bull. I held my ground, but felt my heartbeat stutter. He breathed in sharply and I raised my eyes to meet his but there was fear forming in my gut along with something else—butterflies? Really? I couldn't believe I was feeling butterflies at a time like this. Maybe they were brought forth everytime he touched me, I wasn't sure.

The green of his irises were nearly eclipsed by his pupils. His mouth was parted, and he was breathing irregularly. "I'm out of my mind! Damn it!" He cried out and I groaned, trying hard to calm my frantic nerves. I raised a hand to his face and touched his cheek gingerly, scared that he was going to do something that would hurt me. It was strange, Adrian wasn't like this, even when he was angry…This wasn't him. It was almost like he'd been possessed by an external force of some kind.

Suddenly, I felt his grip on my shoulders loosen and his eyes went blank for a minute. Instantly, his expression changed, conflicted; then, he came to realize what was happening and swallowed hard, just before dropping his hands and backing away from me.

I sighed in relief, rubbing my sore arms and then twisting my head to look back up at him, but he simply kept backing away and muttering things to himself that I couldn't comprehend. He held his head in his hands and stumbled, groaning. Suddenly I realized that whatever he'd been doing wasn't consciously to hurt me. I froze. Spirit's thrall. But it had never, ever been this bad before.

"Adrian…" My voice was calm, I approached him tentatively. "Adrian… It's okay…" Finally, he looked up at me, his eyes were full of terror. Adrian was afraid? That was just wrong. It wasn't the way of the world. He was one of the bravest people I knew, he had the ability to crack quips even in the most morbid of situations and right now he looked so… frightened and defeated.

I thought I heard him choke back a cough, "God, Sydney! I… I… I'm so sorry! I don't know what happened to me…"

"Adrian…Listen to me—"

"No!" He cried as I came closer, putting a hand in between us, as if to block me away. "Don't come closer. I don't want to hurt you." I sighed, feeling dread and worry make its way up to my chest. "I need to get away from you," he started.

"Adrian -"

"I… have to go. Take this meeting on w-without me, yeah? I'll see you later, Sage."

And then he was gone. He walked away as swiftly as he could, and finally dissapeared behind a corner. I could feel the bile rising in my throat as fear and worry mixed with sadness all etched for him hit me. Dejectedly, I finally turned around and began to continue to walk toward Mrs. Terwilliger's house. I took a quick breath, coughing.

I hadn't even realized I'd stopped breathing for a moment there.

xxxxx

"I want the ones with the red jelly. Strawberry, I think?" Angeline demanded.

Everyone was listing the donuts they wanted, and Neil was going to head off in a minute for a donut run. Both Jill and Angeline had offered to go with him, thankfully Mrs. Terwilliger had turned them down. It seemed like girls in the Neil fanclub kept multiplying like bed bugs.

The meeting itself hadn't exactly started yet, and I already felt my mind steering back towards what happened with Adrian back in the alleyway. I could still picture his face in my mind. So vulnerable, so afraid. It physically hurt to see spirit take him over in such a grand way. I was going to talk to Mrs. T about it after the others left.

"What do you want?" Neil asked, probably for the third time when I finally looked up at him and nodded no, "I'm good, thanks." Mrs. T frowned in my direction, lowering her glasses,  
>"Eat something, Miss Melrose. I don't want you trying on all those ridiculous diet things. You must be thoroughly nourished in order to perform proper spells." I sighed, I didn't want to eat anything after my spectacle with Adrian; I felt like I would throw-up if I tried, but there was no arguing with Mrs. T right now. I sighed,<p>

"Just get me anything, er, less sugary."

Neil nodded and scampered out.

I tried to ignore the looks on both Angeline and Jill's faces as he walked out. Eddie nudged me and I turned to look at him, I could tell he was still uncomfortable with all of this. None of my friends had been aware about my wicca activities before Adrian and I broke the news and while Jill and Angeline seemed to be taking it well, Eddie was still dubious and slightly unsettled with the whole thing. I couldn't say I blamed him. I remember the exact same look on my face my first time learning about all this, but I'd come to a depressing point in my life where none of these things affected me or surprised me that much anymore.

"You okay?" He asked and I plastered on a smile, hoping my earlier acting skills still proved useful. "I'm fine," I muttered, and he scrutinized me then nodded no. "No, you aren't... but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

I sighed. _It's not that I don't want to, it's just that if I will, I'll probably break down and cry._

"It's nothing important… And hey, I know you're still uncomfortable processing all of this, I know it's too much for a brain to take but I think you're doing a wonderful job." Eddie smiled,

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Sydney." I smiled back.

Suddenly, Jill walked over to us, instantly, I felt Eddie tense next to me. So he still had that crush he'd moped on about. I made a mental note to talk to him about that later. She looked a little concerned and her forehead crinkled a little as she frowned, "Where's Adrian?"

_To lie or not to lie?  
><em>  
>"He said he had lots of incomplete projects to tackle so he couldn't make it today."<p>

_Lie it is.  
><em>  
>I knew how stupid that was of me, all Jill had to do was concentrate and using that pesky bond of hers, she could figure out I'm lying. Thankfully, she seemed to take my word for it, for now. "Oh," her expression was still slightly doubtful, but she shrugged it off. "Okay."<p>

I needed to sit down. So I walked past Eddie and Jill, feeling like I'd just dodged a bullet and sat down on the couch next to two of the cats. Mrs. Terwilliger finally started the meeting.

"Miss Melrose, you had something to tell us all."

I nodded, it took some mental maneuvering to focus on anything besides what happened with Adrian but I managed it somehow anyway and began to explain how I felt like the temperatures had been dropping overnight and the predicted snow that could hit the city in a few days. Mrs. T looked a little unhinged but nodded her head like she'd seen this coming.  
>"It is possible…That all this bending of magic is causing unfeasible climatic conditions,"<p>

"I like snow. It's pretty. I've always wanted to build a snowman. Wait—How is this a bad thing, again?" Angeline pointed out from the other side of the room where she was standing.

"Its not normal for it to snow here," Jill explained, Angeline seemed to register this,

"So it's evil snow?"

Mrs. T took off her glasses and began to polish them for the fourth time in the last ten minutes, "It's unnatural," She said, putting her glasses back on. "It feels absurd, like everything is starting to tip out of balance."

"And that's bad, right?" Angeline asked.

She nodded, "Balance is everything. Not just in magic, but in nature. Hot and cold. Light and dark. Female and Male. Good and Evil. They're all just opposite sides of the same coin. Everything needs its opposite in order to keep the balance. Too much of one, however…"

"What happens if it keeps getting colder?" Eddie wondered, Mrs. T looked at him.

"Not good," she said, "Crops will fail. Animals that can't survive in these temperatures will die out. If it spreads…" Her voice trailed off once more.

"Not good," I repeated. We all stared out the window.

xxxxx

"So what was it that you wanted to talk about, dear?" Mrs. T asked, once everyone else had left. I stared at the empty box of donuts as I responded dryly, "Something happened to Adrian today…" Mrs. T tilted her head to the side, "Is this why he couldn't make it?"

I nodded yes. I could already feel a splitting headache coming on, and I had to rub my temples to numb the pain. Its not until Mrs. T put her hands over my own that I realized that I was trembling. "What happened?" Her voice was extremely soothing. I took a deep breath and finally explained everything that happened. She was quiet for a long time after I told her about it. "I see," she said, biting her lip. "I have a feeling that this rift that has come upon us is doing maximum damage to spirit users, since their talents are rare and they themselves are few and far between."

I stared down at my toes, "Is it normal? Or is he on the brink of insanity?"

Mrs. T sighed, "I won't lie, Miss Melrose. It—It's happened before. Adrian wouldn't be the first candidate to be caught up in spirit's thrall, but I, for one. don't think that its spirit alone that's causing this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…" There was more glass polishing.

"Adrian is a strong lad. He is not one to succumb to spirit so easily, and he was doing so very well just a few weeks ago. The temperatures suddenly changing, Adrian's behavior hitting its limit, this is all a pattern. Its cluing us in that its coming, whatever 'it' is."

I could feel my hands bawl into fists with anger at that. "Then we need to find this 'it' and put an end to it! I don't…I can't… Mrs. Terwilliger, Adrian… He was covered in blood in my dreams, and at certain instances he looked…" I couldn't stop the stammering.

I wanted to say the four letter word, it just wouldn't fall out of my mouth.

"Dead?"

There was no sign of compassion on Mrs. T's face, she looked like a scientist, curious about her latest experiment. Still, I was thankful that she understood what I was going to convey. Now the nausea seemed to be getting worse and I felt like something was playing a round of Kick-The-Sydney in my stomach.

Mrs. T's eyes widened all of a sudden, and she looked slightly upset. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier when you first mentioned the dream?"

"It didn't strike me as important."  
>She flashed me a get-real look.<p>

"Okay, I didn't tell you because… I wanted to avoid it. I wanted to pretend like it didn't happen. It was ridiculous, I know that now. I guess I just didn't want to face the truth. I'm sorry, Mrs. Terwilliger."

She shook her head, "I just hope we are able to help your friend in time,"

"In time for what?"

"I don't know."

xxxxx

That night, sleeping was proving to be extremely difficult.

I'd thought a couple of times to go check on Adrian, but had ended up chickening out. I groaned, tossing and turning in bed and trying to get some sleep. It didn't work. I sighed, checking my alarm clock for the time, it was almost three in the morning. I sighed again, I tried my best to get eight hours of sleep every night, but it was starting to become practically impossible.

Also, it was cold. Very cold. I felt like my feet were numb and everytime I put them to the floor, it was like I was stepping on an ice berg. Even the windows were fogged up. Snow didn't look as implausible as it had a couple hours ago.

At least I had my own dorm room now, I loved Jill, but I had to admit it was quite nice not having to worry about waking her up in the middle of the night. I sat up in bed and turned on the light on my nightstand, finally opting to sift through the last few chapters I had remaining on that book I was going through. It had quite some important stuff about elemental magic and its side-effects, things that I doubted Mrs. T was planning to educate me on anytime soon. There was a sequel book to the one I was reading, too, which had information on some of the greatest magic wielding Moroi in the last couple hundred centuries. It was all just so interesting to absorb.

I wondered if Mrs. T was holding a secret grudge on me for leaving Palm Springs, I mean she did seem a little upset about it the first time we spoke since I was back, so I wouldn't put it past her. I mean she knew how much I love to read and learn new things, but of course she had to push me towards spells.

_Maybe she can hold hands with Adrian and see how she likes it.  
><em>  
>I frowned at the thought, realizing how petulant I sounded. I knew that it made sense for me to be the one casting the spells, and it wasn't like I hadn't offered. It was just the fact that all the intimate spellwork with Adrian was stirring up lingering feelings, transporting me back to simpler times with him... The first time we'd met - how agitated I'd been, the two of us in a darkened candlelit room gazing into each other's eyes, finding something to hold on to in the dead of the night, the wonderful first kiss that had left my head spinning and my knees buckling and...<p>

_SNAP OUT OF IT._

Adrian.

And then there was Adrian himself… God, maybe the reason I wasn't getting any sleep was because of my last encounter with him. I couldn't get him out of my head. I wasn't mad at him, not really, more like exhausted and worried sick. Whoever was doing all this, they had it out for spirit wielders. If today's events and my so called 'prophetic' dreams were any indication, then Adrian was the new punching bag in a grand scheme of madness.

Suddenly, my phone buzzed and I frowned. I wasn't exactly used to text messages in the middle of the night. My heart skipped a few beats when I saw who the message was from.  
>Adrian. My fingers lingered over the touchpad for a long time before I finally had the courage to open his message and see what he wanted to say.<p>

Sorry for running out on you, Sage. Sorry for the other thing too. I'm ashamed.

I groaned, I couldn't believe that he thought that it was his fault, and I wasn't quite sure why he was sitting up awake in the middle of the night and texting me. It just got me feeling a dozen times more distraught. I began to type back.

It was NOT your fault, Adrian.

He replied almost instantly.

The words came out of my mouth. My hands pinned you against that wall. Ergo, Sage, it is very much MY fault.

A minute later, before I'd even finished typing a response, another message popped in.

Why are you up so late ?

I scoffed at the second message and didn't like the first one. I wasn't going to accept it, and I could be stubborn when I wanted to be,

Don't be ridiculous. You were under Spirit's thrall. Even spoke to Mrs. T, she agrees. And I couldn't sleep.

He replied: Go to sleep, it's late.

I replied: Instead of telling me what to do, why don't you take your own advice and do the same?

When I finally felt like my fingers were going to start aching, I just threw caution away and decided to give him a call. He picked up after the first two rings.

"Sage, you slay me with your harsh words." He muttered, in obvious reference to the last message I sent him. I couldn't help but notice his words slurred just a little bit. It wouldn't even have been distinguishable to someone who didn't hear him talk all the time. I, on the other hand, was well versed with Adrian's speech patterns.

"You've been drinking," my voice was indignant, and he reciprocated with a sound that was half a sigh of frustration, and half a cough. "Keen observation." He muttered dryly. I almost wished that he was right here in front of me so that I could slap him across the face. My blood boiled, "You promised before I left that you would reduce your intake." He was quiet for a moment,

"That promise was rendered meaningless the second you left, Sage. The promise was only applicable if you were around to make sure that I was reducing my alcohol."

I groaned. I was sick and tired of him trailing back to that same, overused excuse. I already hated myself for leaving him, but he didn't have to keep throwing it in my face all the time. Not to mention he kept using it to squirm his way out of everything these days.

"Oh, please." Adrian took a deep breath that sounded a lot like static over the phone.

"It numbs the spirit. We wouldn't want me to be turning into the Great Hulk anytime soon."

I agreed to that, but I thought that there were better ways.

I laid down on my mattress, wrapping the blankets tighter around me, feeling the need of the comfort. "We… We can find other ways for that. Maybe it was just a one-time thing? I—I'm sure it won't happen again!" I mentally groaned at my response, I didn't sound the least bit convincing. It seemed like Adrian was telepathic, now, because he read right between the lines. "Who are you trying to convince? Me or yourself?"

"I don't know," my voice was brittle, "The both of us."

"It'll be alright. Super Sydney Sage will figure it out. And if you don't, you've always got your coven sisters. So tell me, how was the meeting? Was it dull and boring without my solicitous presence?"

I wasn't sure whether I was more bothered by Adrian's implication that I now possessed 'coven sisters' of my own, or the fact that he just used the word 'solicitous' in a sentence.

Yep, he was certainly drunk.

I sighed, staring at my phone and his display picture that surrounded the screen. The picture was of sometime last year, it was of the two of us. Adrian had this big toothy grin plastered on his face and his green eyes shined roguishly, like they held all of the world's secrets. He had one arm loosely around me, I felt like I looked a little dull sitting right next to him. He always looked so energetic and full of life.

Not to mention that he was clad in a bright blue t-shirt and I was wearing a dull slade-grey.

I sighed, thinking back upon last year when our biggest problems were a life-sucking witch on the loose and a bunch of tweed-clad Alchemists.

"It was alright. We discussed the weather changes, Mrs. Terwilliger thinks its our anonymous magic-dweller who's trying to upset the balance of things."

"What the hell can disrupt the freaking balance of nature?"

"That's what we don't know,"

Adrian snorted a little on the other end of the line, "New year, new life-threatening enemy."

I laughed just a little, "Fun, isn't it?" Adrian laughed too, "Very. You can't see me but I'm gesturing emphatically." I smiled, "Go to sleep, Adrian. You don't know what you're talking about."

"But I like having late night conversations with you."

I sighed. I didn't know what it was with him, he always managed to divert my mind from the actual issue at hand, and he was getting better at it. I liked talking to him too, I'd missed it so much that whenever I heard his voice I felt like tons of butterflies were gathering in my stomach. Giant, mutant butterflies that weighed a ton or three.

"And I like talking to you." He added, reading my mind.

"We have lots to do tomorrow. Top of the list is to find out what's going wrong with spirit and why it's sending your mind into a frenzy. Unfortunately, I feel like you'll be too hungover to process anything."

"Hangovers are the least of my problems." He sounded serious. I wanted to make him feel better, but I wasn't sure what to say. His problems were pretty drastic, there wasn't much in the way of sympathetic positive vibes. So I said whatever came to my mind.

"We'll deal. Just like we always do. We'll… take care of each other, right?"

"Oh, Sydney," he responded, whenever he used my full name I felt like my nerves were getting shock-therapy, I liked the way it rolled off his tongue, like he didn't want to miss one syllable. "I love it when you talk friendly to me."

I wasn't sure whether that was a taunt or just a joke but I suppressed another chuckle.

"Goodnight, Adrian."

"Goodnight, Sage. Dream of unicorns and love and Adrian Ivashkov sweeping you off your feet and into the sunset."

xxxxx

"De Fumo In Flammam," Mrs. T muttered.

We were all assembled for another meeting that she had called upon, Adrian included. Mrs. Terwilliger looked even more frantic than usual, and that was never a good thing.

"Is that a tongue-twister?" Jill asked, frowning slightly.

But I already knew what it meant. I could already feel an uneasy nausea settling in my gut.

"Out of the smoke, into the flame." I translated, and Mrs. T flashed me a quick nod.

"It's a Latin quote, if I'm not mistaken." I explained, and Jill nodded. Angeline tilted her head,

"So what does it mean? Is there going to be a fire?"

Mrs. T sighed and polished her glasses. It had become a ritual now. She swiveled her head back up to look at us, "Simply put, trouble is brewing. I—I called upon this meeting to request you all to hold the fort while I attend to some business. Its related to our current predicament, I assure you. Two of my friends from the coven and I are going to go seek out one of the most well-known magic dwellers of our time. She comes from a legendary coven, one that dates back years. We believe she has some of the information that we are looking for. She is in New York City, so we will be taking a quick four-day trip."

Everyone, including me, stared at her with our jaws hanging open. Adrian was first to recover from the initial shock, "You really want to leave the fate of the world on a bunch of teenagers?" Mrs. T dismissed the comment with a hand gesture and began to search her messy table that was now piled with files, folders, cat toys and empty foam coffee cups. "I don't have much of a choice, Mr. Ivashkov," she blabbered, finally finding what she was looking for.

She pulled out the sheet of paper and held it up for us all to see, "I have written down everyone's specific tasks that covers the four days that you must encounter in my absence. Adrian, Sydney, there are two spells you must experiment in this span of time. Any supplies that you will need will be available in my house. I've written down certain books and internet websites for the rest of you to research and highlight in time for when I am back. You may approach me on my cellphone if you need any guidance."

"Great," Angeline said, "More homework. Like we don't get enough at school."

I shook my head. I still couldn't believe that she was abandoning us and stocking us up with a bunch of chores to do. "Am I clear?" She raised an eyebrow. Eddie, who was standing besides me, nodded. "I'm in." Jill and Adrian followed suit. Angeline didn't look as enthused, and nor was I, for that matter.

"Oh, Miss Melrose. What is it now?" She groaned, looking agitated; like I was an annoying child asking for too much candy. I sighed, I would handle this with respect and with a rational head.

"It's just… We need you, Mrs. Terwilliger. I… You can't expect me to perform those spells alone. I've never done it without at least some supervising from you."

Mrs. Terwilliger pushed her glasses up and squinted at me,  
>"You won't be alone. You have Adrian."<p>

"Adrian's not a witch!"

"_So_ not." Adrian agreed.

Mrs. Terwilliger sighed, "Miss Melrose, I cannot coddle you forever. You will only be able to learn if you try this by yourself. Think of all the good that will come of it. Now, here," she handed me the sheet of paper, then turned to Angeline, "You can divide your research work with Neil. How does that sound?"

Angeline's eyes lighted up like two giant lightbulbs. "Sounds good!" I huffed. She did not just play the Neil card! Jill's expression was equally strained and she flashed me a look like, _Can you believe this woman?  
><em>  
>I smiled back at her, but my smile was stale. I still couldn't believe Mrs. T was abandoning us, well sort of. She patted me on the back, "You'll all do just fine. I promise to be back soon."<p>

We all started to get up, but she stopped us. "There's one more thing, I was doing some research, and I came a bit closer to understanding the nature of who we are dealing with."

All pairs of eyes and ears were now on Mrs. T.

"Whoever we are dealing with has heavy knowledge on a lot of aspects of the world of magic that are unknown to most witches in our generation. Whoever this is, the roots trail back almost a hundred years. They're dwelling in ancient powers, some of them that lead back into the time of vikings and warlocks. The kind of powers that it takes to create such disruptions are momentous, which means that we are going to be faced with something very old and dark."

Everyone went dead silent. Neil spoke up gingerly, a minute later.

"What's… What's the good news?"

"The good news," Mrs. T said, "Is that we have a witch powerful enough to beat this thing. With some help, of course."

"Who is that?" Jill muttered, obviously oblivious to what Mrs. T was going to say. A lump began to form in my throat as she continued,

"Miss Melrose, of course."

That did it. The world started spinning. My head started to hurt and I could feel the bile rising in my throat again.

Into the flame indeed.


	6. You've Dug Your Own Grave, Now Lie In It

**A/N: Guys, I would really appreciate some reviews. If I don't get any feedback I really won't be as motivated to continue posting this story...**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Six<strong> - Adrian

_Don't wanna let you down,_  
><em>But I am ... hell bound<em>

* * *

><p>You've Dug Your Own Grave, Now Lie In It<p>

I woke up to darkness.

Literally, the room was so pitch dark that I couldn't make out the silhouettes of the furniture. I couldn't even see the edge of my own bed. It was like being blind. The room was cold, even more so than it had been a few hours ago when I went to bed. The temperature must've dropped while I was asleep.

I spread out on the bed, fanning my arms to try and locate my phone or the alarm clock on the nightstand. It didn't work.

Alright, scary.

I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes a little, they should have adjusted to the darkness by now. Suddenly, there were footsteps. The sound was faint so if it hadn't been this utterly silent, I wouldn't have been able to tell. The footsteps were approaching towards me.

I frowned. Who would be at my apartment this late? I sighed and spoke up, "If you're going to trample into my humble abode in the middle of the night like an axe-murderer. The least you can do is bring a flashlight."

There was a hissing, kind of like a snicker. It sounded almost inhuman, but I could tell it belonged to a girl. Slowly, a silhouette of a woman came closer and parked itself right above me, at the edge of my bed. I tried to keep my voice from shaking, "I'm serious. Who are you? I'm not really in the mood to play hide-and-seek."

There was another chuckle. It sounded malicious and poisoned, like the sound of a hyena laughing. I was really starting to hate this bitch, even if I didn't know who she was. I could rule out Jailbait and Sage easily, they weren't allowed off-campus at these hours and their voices didn't sound like the glass-shattering screams of a dozen dying children.

Finally, it—her, _whatever_, spoke up.

"You're the prettiest one yet." She hissed.

I wasn't sure if this was a joke or if I was suddenly part of the reality show that played pranks on unsuspecting idiots like me. Were there hidden cameras in my room? Was Ashton Kutcher gonna jump out at me from the shadows and scream, _"You have been punk'd!"_  
>Unfortunately, I assumed not.<p>

"What?" I questioned, feeling a little unnerved now. The girl's outline was the only thing I could make out in the utter blackness, "Hey, if we're going to be complimenting each other, maybe you should turn on the lights so that I could see you?" I offered.

An amused cackle was my mystery girl's only response.

"Even juicier than the last one. Pretty blonde with the sharp tongue… No wonder you two get along."

I didn't know whether it was just the tone of her voice or the way she was talking about my friend, but suddenly, there were chills running up and down my spine. And I knew who she was talking about.

"Lissa?" I asked gingerly, and the mystery girl's outline shifted a little, I assumed she was nodding. "Very good. Smart _and_ pretty… I could use you."

_Whoever it was, they were targeting Spirit users…  
><em>  
>"What did you do to her?" I gritted my teeth, and she laughed again. I could feel her coming closer, and suddenly a nail as sharp as the edge of a knife started to trail up my torso. I shivered. I still couldn't see the bitch's face, but I knew that she was smiling.<p>

"You must cooperate with me. Your powers are very, very special to me you see…" she rasped, her nail was now digging into my chest, right above my heart. I had to bite my lip really hard to keep myself from screaming in pain. "They're the most unique in the mix," she yammered on, her nail now twisting its way through my cotton shirt. I cringed, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to concentrate on her words, rather than the blinding pain.

"Wha—What do you want!?" I managed to say. She laughed again. Even the sound of her laugh hurt. It sounded like a dozen nails screeching across an endless chalkboard. I winced again. "I thought it was obvious, pretty boy." I groaned and huffed, before wrapping my palm around her thin, cold wrist and gripping it hard. "Stop!"

Somehow, she was stronger than I was. She yanked my hand off of her own quite easily, the contact left my skin burning—and not in a good way. I felt like I'd just touched a bunch of prickly spikes. "You have no idea who you are, what you're capable of. Nor does she. It'll make playing with you so much… fun." She whispered cheerfully, still digging her nail into my chest. She'd torn some of the shirt, and I could feel the blood gushing out now, but I was powerless against her.

I wanted to find out who she was, now I knew that I couldn't see her face, but I still had a trick up my sleeve. I guess spirit isn't all that bad after all. I turned my head to face exactly where I assumed she was standing and began to focus, squeezing my eyes a little and willing her aura to present itself to me. It worked.

Slowly, a grey mist began to form around her shadow. I frowned, most people had purple or golden auras, the colors usually depended on the skills and personalities they possessed. Sydney's was bright and colourful, with tons of both purple and hints of gold. This was a stark opposite of that. Her aura was infused with darkness, it clung to her aura like it was eradicating her life force. There were strong specs of grey and muddled orange, proving that she may have been a human with a normal aura at one time, but now it was polluted.

Surrounded by darkness. Swallowed by it.

I'd never seen anything like it before.

She hissed, she knew. A cold hand reached out and grabbed my chin, I shivered. "Naughty boy!" She crooned, "Trying to peek into my being. Don't you know, its not polite to put your nose where it doesn't belong?" After which she yanked at my nose so hard I was sure it was going to freeze and fall off of my face.

_She._ I had this feeling that she was talking about Sydney, and alarm bells began to sound off in my head. I forgot all about her freaky aura and willed it to dissolve. Pointless, since I was suddenly frozen in place, unable to move any part of my body but my head. "I'm here to warn you…" her voice trailed off as her other hand ran through my hair. I felt like someone was pouring hot liquidized metal on my head and again, I wanted to scream. "Don't mess with powers that are beyond you… I can give you the option to come with me. You would be useful, entertaining. I could give you whatever you wanted. May even let you keep your pesky powers." She went on.

I growled at her, "S-Stay… away!" She laughed again, this time it echoed throughout the deserted room and probably even bounced off the city streets. "Is that a no?"

I spat in her face.

Just to let her know that she was revolting and that I'd never do anything she told me to.  
>She wasn't pleased. She hissed, snapping her head back as if she'd been slapped. I still couldn't see her face, but I could make out enough to tell that I'd upset her. "Very well then. You bring this upon yourself… You're digging your own grave," She sounded like a rattle snake, muttering those things over and over again. Her voice was so shrill I wanted to tear my ears off. My chest hurt like hell and I thought I was going to die. She pinched my chest one last time before digging her nail out,<p>

"Don't tell me that I didn't warn you, pretty boy."

xxxxx

There were snowflakes.

There were snowflakes on my window pane. It was snowing in Palm Springs. I was pretty sure now that it was the end of days. The reminder I'd gotten in my nightmare just proved it.

I woke up sweating, wheezing and terrified. When I'd finally calmed my nerves and realized that it was a dream I instantly called up Lissa. It was five in the morning but I had to know if she was alright. The dream had felt vivid, like it had really happened. Quickly, I'd looked down at my chest. I hadn't taken the dreamland wounds into the real world apparently, because there was no blood and my shirt wasn't even ripped.

Lissa had picked up almost instantly, she assured me that she was okay but proclaimed that she had a similar dream. She wouldn't reveal what the invisible bitch told her, but she said that something was coming. I didn't disagree.

After taking the hottest and longest shower of my life, I got ready; changing into jeans, a black shirt and pulling on a grey hoddie to keep from frostbite. After setting my hair and applying some perfume, I walked over to the window and gawked out at the now caked white vicinity of Palm Springs. The place was practically known as a summer destination, I was pretty sure I'd been sweating out of my ears three days ago and now… there were snowflakes. It was snowing. It was unnatural.

I still remembered the entire encounter in my head and set it to replay mode as I walked out of the house to stop by at Sydney's before I headed to college, just to make sure that she was alright. Chilled to the bone wasn't just an expression anymore, I guess.

It was really, really cold. I had to keep rubbing my palms repeatedly to retain body heat. It had probably been snowing for the past few hours because the streets were covered in a thin yet slippery layer of ice. The neighborhood that I currently lived in was practically a ghost town except for the occasional car or truck. There weren't any blissful morning joggers, or Mrs. Jordan and her yoga squad working out in her front yard, there were no dog-walkers or ice-cream trucks. The few birds that were brave enough to come out in this new weather chirped quietly but remained hidden in the trees.

Unnatural was what it was.

I picked up the pace as I headed towards my yellow mustang and got in. Thank the lord for car heaters, I turned mine on almost instantly. It was insane, people that lived in Palm Springs weren't used to this kind of weather. I noticed one of the people in the house opposite to where I'd parked my car, trying to scrape ice off his doorstep with the opposite side of his lawn mower. I sighed as I started the ignition and drove towards her house, trying to ignore the sense of serious dread that was creeping its way up my spine.

xxxxx

"Morning Sunshine! Looks like Jack Frost paid us a visit," I joked as I walked into Sydney's dorm room. She was clad in a cyan bathrobe when she opened the door and her hair were dripping wet. I tried to steer my mind away from the thoughts of a naked Sydney standing just a few inches away from me.

She looked distraught and a little upset as she trudged back towards the bathroom, I think she wanted to yell at me for showing up while she was still 'indecent' but only managed to mutter, "So cold! So cold!" repeatedly as she traipsed her way back and shut the bathroom door with an echoing thud. Despite all the colourful thoughts and ideas that I had when it came to something like that, I was polite enough to take a seat on the edge of the bed and wait for her.

I had distracting thoughts of my own, ones of the non-Sydney variety. I had this phantom burn on the parts of my skin that the Invisible Goddess from Hell had touched and the dream was still fresh in my mind.

_Don't tell me that I didn't warn you._

That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? What was she warning me about? What exchange did she have with Lissa? What exactly is it that she wants from us? I didn't want to tell Sydney about my dream because knowing her, she'd worry for no reason. And I had absolutely zero intentions of adding yet another problem on her leaning tower of issues that are still to be resolved. On the other hand, it would be kind of unfair on my part if I didn't share some of the newfound information I had on whoever was trying to do all this. I knew now that it was obviously a female, and she did drop a few other hints… Sydney's brain could probably make the connections that I couldn't.

She finally came out, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved informal t-shirt. "I had to borrow a few clothes from my friend Kristen," she muttered, "Don't ask." I raised my hands up in surrender and then flashed her a cocky smirk, "I'm not complaining, it suits you." I was about to add that everything suits her, but I kept my mouth shut.

She sighed as she plopped down on the bed a little away from me. "I still need more winter wear—" I cut her off, "I've got a few hoodies and stuff at home. Luckily I'm a heavy-packer, I can get you some." She fixed me with an incredulous look. "What? You aren't trying to make a fashion statement, this is about keeping you all bundled up for the harsh winter, right?"

She nodded and then tilted her head to the side, quizzically. I couldn't help but admire how naturally beautiful she was. Her wet hair had been left to their imperfections as they fell recklessly down her shoulders, she had absolutely no make-up on and her pouty lips were still slightly wet from the shower. I wanted to kiss them. I wanted to pull her into my arms and hold her. I wanted to swim in those amber eyes for the rest of my life. But of course, all of that was currently like trying to fit a square-shaped plate into a round hole. Impossible.

"Why are you here?" She asked, getting straight to the point. "I would say its because I can't stop thinking about you and that now I'm here to serenade you with my fancy guitar and a bottle of the world's finest wine but you wouldn't like that, so I'll give you something a little easier for your smart brain to swallow. I think I know who's behind our freak snowstorm."

As expected, that drew her attention. She perked up instantly, biting her lower lip and her eyes scanning my face as if trying to make sure I didn't have the answers painted across my forehead in invisible ink. I could practically hear the wheels turning in that special brain of hers. "That's amazing, Adrian! How… What happened? Tell me everything."

"I intend to," and so I told her about my dream that wasn't so much a dream, the invisible lady and mentioned some of the things that she told me. I spared her the gory details that included her digging her nails into my chest and trying to claw my heart out.

I expected Sydney to jump to a bunch of conclusions and start calculating stuff the instant I told her, instead, she looked aghast. For a few seconds, she didn't even speak. She just stared at me with a strange look on her face. When she finally spoke, I wasn't sure if she sounded concerned or murderous, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

I frowned, "I told you at nine in the morning. Nine in the morning, Sage. That's like the middle of the night for me on most days. So, I think that covers the 'soon' part." She sighed, pressing her fingers to her forehead, looking slightly frantic. Then she stood up and paced the length of the compact dorm room. "I can't believe this. God—Are you okay?"

I'll admit I was a little taken aback when she turned around and met my eyes. Her eyes were so full of compassion and anxiousness. I didn't want her feeling that way over me, but I'll be honest it did make me feel a little better, knowing that she cared. "Right as rain, Sage." I muttered. She sighed in relief and sat back down, looking up at me with that intense look in her amber eyes. I was about to start counting the gold flecks in her eyes when she raised her hand and ran it through my hair. She used to do that sometimes, but that was before she took off for Mexico. I tried not to lose my mind over the contact as she pulled back, probably registering what she'd just done.

She turned away just a little, "I know that this is a great lead. I just… I worry, Adrian. About you. I feel like there's something that you're not telling me. And… I think that's unfair, considering I tell you everything that goes on in my mind."

She doesn't have to know, I could feed her the rubbish that I wasn't mentioning some details because it was for her own good, but even I knew that sounded simply like an overused and lame excuse. I sighed, "She's after spirit users. She didn't mention why. All I know is that she visited Lissa, too, and made it pretty clear that she's the one behind all of this."

Sydney nodded, frowning and tilting her head a little, "It's almost like she wants us to know."  
>I thought about that, thinking back to when I'd managed to peer at her aura. I bit my lip,<br>"I don't know about that. I… I got a look at her aura, I was hoping to find out what she was. And the results weren't exactly satisfying," She crossed her arms over her chest and her eyes went wide. "So," she went on, "What did you see?"

"I… I don't think she's human, Sage."

Sydney's jaw dropped, I would have taken glory in being able to see what a completely floored Sydney looked like, but my mind was elsewhere. "It was etched with darkness. The color was unusual, grey and dirty orange. It looked like that darkness had sucked most of her life force out of her. It was spooky, really. I spoke to Liss about it on the phone, she confirmed it as an anomaly. Sonya's gonna call me later today, I hope she's got some answers because I'm coming up with absolutely nothing." Sydney sighed, "That doesn't sound so good. I'll speak to Mrs. Terwilliger about it, I have got to call her. Ugh. She had to pick the worst time to schedule that New York trip, hadn't she?"

I rolled my eyes and firmly put my hands on her shoulders, her eyes shot up to meet mine.  
>"So? We don't need Jackie. We can handle this, remember? And Sage, I don't want you worrying about me, you've got enough on your plate already. I've gotta head for college, but I'll come see you and Jailbait at Amberwood later. Lunch time sound good?"<p>

She smiled and gave me a small nod, "Okay. Take care." I stood up to leave, then quickly turned around. "Oh, when do you want to whip out the flying broomsticks and the magic carpet?" I asked, she knitted her eyebrows together, confused. "I don't get that reference."  
>A smile tugged at my lips, "The spells that Jackie wanted us to try out. When do you want to give them a spin?" At this, her entire posture wavered and she went rigid.<p>

I wet my lip a little and tilted my head at her, "I don't know where you're from but on earth we respond when a fellow life form questions us about something. It's known as conversation, Sage? You alive in there?" I snapped my fingers in her face. She pulled herself out of the trance and looked up at me, "Huh? Yeah. We'll do it soon. You should go. The weather's getting worse and I've got to get ready."

I nodded sheepishly, taking a step back before turning around and heading out the door. Noticing, but deciding not to comment on her stranger than usual behavior.

"Women," I muttered restlessly, "A universal mystery yet unsolved."

xxxxx

I was getting a little tired of being the miracle healer.

Spirit: A boon or a curse: A detailed thesis written by Adrian Ivashkov. The answer itself wasn't very clear. It all started when I found the dying girl. Well, she wasn't dead, but I was pretty sure she was close to it. I could practically feel the Grim Reaper staring at me with animosity as I revived her.

Amberwood was a mess. After I attended my regular college class, I headed straight there, finding it a little inconvenient to drive the way I pleased on frosty streets. I wasn't the only one, apparently. When I got to Amberwood, there was a huge crowd surrounding the front lawn, where most students liked to hang out after rough classes.

The snow had apparently gotten to someone, because there had been an accident. After parking my car, I sauntered over to check out what the commotion was all about. I pushed past a few high school kids to get a better look. There was a big brown truck practically slammed into a small red Mercedes. The front of the truck was crunched up and the Mercedes was minutes away from toppling over, somehow managing to balance on it's side. People around me were gasping and crying and pointing, but nobody bothered to check if someone had been injured by the crash.

I tapped the shoulder of the guy with the shaggy hair who looked on besides me, "What's this about?" I asked, and he shrugged, "Some bastard slammed head on into the poor girl's car, think he did it on purpose." I frowned, "Where are they now?"

"They're both probably pancakes by now but we'd called the paramedics and the ambulance. They should be here soon." I had to stop myself from punching the asshole right in his overly large face. "They could still be alive, you idiot!"

I pushed past a few more people and ran towards the crushed vehicles. I crouched down and peeped through the window of the truck, a driver, probably in his mid-forties sat with his arms and head on the steering-wheel. His arms hung loose and lifeless and his forehead was bleeding, also I was pretty sure he was dead. A dismal feeling creeped inside me as I ran over to check the car and see if the girl was having better luck. Some of the students behind me were muttering things and cheering, but I didn't pay them any attention.

I worked quickly, the car had been flipped sideways and the girl was still inside. I opened the lock of the door since the glass from the window was already shattered; and yanked it open. Then I crawled through and tried to reach the girl, her eyes were open but I could tell that she didn't have much time. She was ghastly pale and had a ruptured wiper sticking out of her torso and her neck was twisted at a grotesque angle, her eyes were filled with terror.

When they met my own, she managed to squeak, "H… Help!"

There were shards of glass and other pieces of debris all around me, but I managed to reach the girl, "Shh," I told her, trying to pull her out. "You're going to be okay." She whimpered, breathing heavily, "Leg…s-st..stuck…in the…" I looked up to see what she was talking about. Her right leg was stuck through something. Suddenly, the entire car shook, I'd managed to drain out most of the sounds coming from outside; but I could tell that people were screaming. The car was going to topple over and we were still stuck inside. "It's okay," I repeated, unsure of which one of us I was reassuring.

She was still panting, and I could tell that she only had a few minutes left. _Think, Adrian, think. What would Sydney do?_ My mind managed to draw a blank and I wanted to scream in anguish. All I knew was that I had to save this girl. So I turned over to look at her foot again, if she had been in a better condition, she could have easily hauled her foot out. I would have done it myself but if I ventured deeper into the wreckage then I was pretty sure the car would quiver and I'd have gotten us both killed.

This was _not _the way I was going to go out.

Determined now, an idea popped into my head. _If she was in a better condition_… Suddenly, I knew what I had to do. Yes, I knew all the costs of excess spirit use. Sydney had warned me repeatedly that continued spirit use would harm my mind. To do what I was about to, I wouldn't just be using spirit, I'd be drowning in it. It didn't matter, though. This…This was life or death. How could I not save this girl when I had the chance to? I racked my brain for any other options, but the truth was that there were none. She wouldn't make it in time. Unless I helped her. And I had the power - I could save her life.

I put my hand on the girl's forehead and began to concentrate. _Come on, you can do this_. I kept muttering soothing words to her while doing it. I pictured the girl at full health, I closed my eyes and willed our bodies to make the connection. I could take her pain away. At first, nothing happened, and when I opened my eyes, she was still impaled, bruised and bloody. Then I tried one more time, putting even more focus and force into it. I could do this. I could save her life, I'd done it before. This girl wasn't even dead yet, which meant that I wouldn't have to worry about being bonded with a complete stranger. I could do this. She was okay, she wasn't hurt, she would survive.

When I opened my eyes again, her neck wound had already healed, a few scary seconds later, the rest of her was cured too. The wiper rolled off her now perfectly restored torso. She pulled her leg out with ease then turned to stare at me with big, blue eyes. "You… just…"  
>her voice trailed off, "How did you—" I cut her off, putting my palm over her mouth.<p>

I could already feel the after-effects of the magic beginning to take its toll on me, but I had to do one last thing. I looked back into her eyes and said, "You were lucky. You didn't get hurt. It's a miracle. I helped pull you out of the vehicle, that's all you know." For a second, she seemed a little unsure, her mouth curving a little in a lour, then she shook it off and her eyes were filled with wonder. "Gosh, you have to get me out of here!" She cried. I nodded, "That's the plan. Grab my hand," and she did as told.

By the time we managed to drag ourselves out, several students were helping us. Two of them standing on the outside helped me lift the girl and get her out. When my turn came, they did the same, and by the time the ambulance was here, we were already out of danger.  
>Everyone was staring in awe at both me and the girl. I could feel a few scratches on my face, but the rest of me was fine. Except for the migraine that was coming on due to the excess spirit use. I had to literally grab onto a railing nearby to steady myself. The world around me was beginning to spin and my head was getting lighter…<p>

No, I couldn't black out yet. Not in front of all these people.

Some of the girl's friends ran to her side, someone handed her a blanket, people were asking her a million questions about how she managed to survive such a crash without a scratch on her. I wish I'd left a few bruises where they were, so things didn't seem too implausible, unfortunately, spirit didn't work that way.

The truck-driver didn't make it, as I'd suspected, he was long gone. The paramedics confirmed that his death was instant, he had probably died on impact. It was sad. I made sure to remember that I was going to check the guy's autopsy, the paramedics were surprised when they found out that it didn't look like he'd consumed any alcohol. If the guy hadn't been under the influence or anything, this could be called an attempted murder.

Except… I was getting ominous, supernatural vibes from the whole thing. Which was stupid, it was just a regular accident. Still… after last night's dream visit, I was permanently unhinged and anything was possible. I mean it was snowing in Palm Springs after all.

I got asked loads of questions too, some people complimented me on my bravery, I even got girls asking me for my number. Some kid from the school newsletter asked me my name and if I went to this school so that he could write about my 'heroics' in Amberwood!Today.

It was flattering.

Most of it, though. Was a blur. I needed to go somewhere… Lay down.

When most of the crowd had cleared, I was about to walk away but the girl came running to me. "Thank you so much for saving my life. I'm not sure if I could have made it out without you. It's amazing, isn't it? I survived. God must really exist. I'm gonna start going to church, every Sunday. It really is a miracle."

_Yeah, and her 'God' happens to smoke mints and wear too much hair gel.  
><em>  
>Still, it kind of made me feel good. I smiled back at her, "Anytime."<p>

As soon as she left me though, I made my way back inside my parked Mustang somehow, and fell asleep instantly.

xxxxx

"How was class?" I asked Sydney, falling in step with her as she walked towards the other side of campus. She was staring straight ahead, and I hoped she wouldn't look at my face. The thick winter-clothes had cushioned most of my body, so I mostly looked okay, but my face still had a few bruises, and I didn't want Sydney dwelling. Not that she wasn't going to find out, because she would, very soon, I predicted.

I'd slept for over four hours, and if one of the valet parking dudes hadn't walked over to me and woken me up, I'd probably have slept through the rest of the day. I remembered that I'd promised to go see Sydney and Jill for lunch, but it was already five in the evening. Luckily, I found Sydney heading back to her dorm room on time.

My head still felt extremely woozy, and I had to walk a little slow to keep from stumbling since my vision was fuzzy. Somehow, though, my body came through for me.

"Awesome. Learnt some interesting things. Violence in early adolescence." She explained, smiling slightly. "Want me to autograph your textbook?" I joked, arching an eyebrow. She laughed, then turned to look at me. "You missed lunch." My smile dissolved and I took a deep breath, "Yeah," I scratched the back of my head. "Sorry, got caught up."

Her eyes scanned my face and alarm appeared in them almost on cue, "What—What happened to your face?" At that exact moment, I felt like I was in a soap opera because Jill was marching towards us, and she looked upset when she saw me. "Adrian!" She cried, crossing the distance between us and coming to a halt right in front of us.

_Oh, great_. You'd think that I would have gotten something better from the Powers that Be than a stupid bond as a thank-you present for saving her life.

She crossed her arms over her chest. Her nose flared, her little palms fisted in fury, it was adorable. "There are lots of rumors going around, you know. About the miracle on campus."

I knew that I'd been caught red-handed, but I tried playing clueless, just to stall.

"Really? I wouldn't know." She scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Oh, you wouldn't? See, that's a little hard to believe, considering it's about the girl that you brought back to life!" She spat.

Next to me, I felt Sydney go extremely still. "What is she talking about, Adrian?" Her voice was calm, but I could feel the underlying tension practically radiating off of her. "Yes. Care to explain?" Jill quizzed, her eyes fused with rage. "I don't know what you're talking about," I told Jill, then turned to Sydney, "I don't know what she's talking about. Jailbait, haven't we had the conversation about your underage drinking?"

"Adrian!" Both the girls exclaimed in unison, sounding like a pair of angels sent to earth to avenge me. I sighed in defeat, knowing that my mien was up. The thing was, I'd done something noble, and these two were at my case as if I'd just killed a person.

I looked around, "Okay, can we just… go back to Jailbait's dorm and talk about it there? We wouldn't want to cause a scene in public, would we?"

Sydney grit her teeth, "It's a little too late for that." But she obeyed, and we took the next shuttle to the dorms.

Once we were in her room, they both fixed me with icy expressions. Sydney looked worse than Jill, slightly dissapointed. "Look, I drove to see you guys for lunch and saw this ruckus on campus, so I sought it out, just to see what it was all about. There had been a terrible accident and nobody was doing jack squat about it. I mean, they just stood there. They all just stood there like a bunch of idiots with their mouths hanging open instead of trying to help. There was a girl stuck inside the car, and she was still alive." I began to explain,  
>they both nodded, and gestured for me to go on. "So I crawled into the car and tried to pull her out, but who knows how long ago the trauma had occurred? She was dying. Guys, she was impaled. It—It was twisted and gruesome and… I <em>had<em> to do something. Okay? If you wielded the power to heal, you'd wanna help too. Hell, anyone with a freaking soul would want to. So… I knew that she had only a few minutes left, and I also knew that if I could restore her broken bones, we could slide out without much trouble. So… I did exactly that."

Sydney didn't speak. She took a deep breath and stared down at the floor, trying her best to avoid looking at me. Jill, on the other hand, I noticed her gaze soften a little. "Her name was Tessa, the girl you saved. She…Told everyone about how you helped her. But she couldn't remember a lot of it, you compelled her. Didn't you?" I rubbed my palms together, suddenly feeling a little chilled, but nodded.

"I had to…or she'd start telling everyone about Adrian the Miracle Healer. Anyway, I—I could barely stand after that. Fatigue—it comes kind of complimentary with the spirit package. So I walked over to my car and slept for a while. I'm sorry that I upset you guys, but I couldn't just watch her die when I had the power to save her life. You understand that, right?" I was practically pleading them now, I tried to put that puppy dog eye thing in action, hoping that they would forgive me. Jill was weak, her head hung low and I could practically see her changing her mind. She looked a bit conflicted now.

My eyes swiveled to Sydney. Her arms were shaking and her face had blanched. Jill noticed too, "Sydney? Are—Are you alright?" No answer. Two seconds later, Sydney muttered something I couldn't quite catch and excused herself. She walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I felt my heart sink a little at that.

I turned back to meet Jill's eyes, Jill looked concerned—but it wasn't me she was concerned about, at least, not at the moment. "What's going on with her, Jailbait?" I asked. She shrugged, "Sydney's been a little down lately. I figured its because of everything going on with Mrs. Terwilliger and the magic stuff—but I'm not sure."

I sighed and shook my head, I had to know if she was doing okay. Concern for her mixed with love and anxiety welled up inside of me, and I felt a little nausea coming on. Although, that could probably be because of the spirit use. I still wasn't fully rested over that and my body needed more time to recover.

Jill read it on my face, and her expression shifted to one of sisterly love. She walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "I think what you did was really brave. It was reckless and scary, I know because I felt what you were feeling when you were there but… it was really brave. I get what you're talking about, too. About having the power to do something like that? I would have probably done the same thing if I were in your shoes." Her soothing words spread warmth inside of me, calming the tidal waves of misery that were making their way through every nerve inside my body.

Sometimes, I forgot just how grateful I was for having someone like Jill in my life. She filled the void that my family had left inside of me. What with my dad being a condescending, ruthless jerk and my mother stuck in a jail cell somewhere miles away and out of my reach. Even Lissa and I, who had been super close, didn't talk much now. I needed Jill, I realized. More than she'd ever know, even with that ridiculous bond between us.

I pulled Jill into a small hug after that. I found myself needing the contact. "What would I ever do without you, Jailbait." She smiled against my shoulder, "I thought you didn't do mushy," I let go of her and grinned, "You're the exception to that."

A minute or two after, I decided that Sydney would feel more comfortable if I left her dorm, and I was pretty sure that if I didn't leave now, I would curl up right here on her bed. I was still extremely tired, and in full need to go back home and get some real sleep. I thanked Jill, for understanding and being so supportive, I told her to talk to Sydney and take care of her when I couldn't, then left.

I walked past a few people who seemed to recognize me from my 'archaic act of bravery' as I made my way back to my car. I had to take most of it in modesty and managed to escape them as quickly as I could. Amberwood was seriously a dangerous place for me now.

As soon as I got in the car, all of the suppressed turmoil, pain and weariness came crumbling down on me. I gripped the steering wheel tight, till my knuckles were white and then I let go.

I flipped on the radio, blasted Supertramp and just let it all go.


	7. I Love You, But I've Chosen Darkness

**A/N: I am sorry for these late updates, but I've been super busy with this agitating thing called life. I will try to update sooner, but there's a lot of editing going around and I still have a few chapters to polish and finish up, so do bare with me. AND PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!**

**P.S This chapter contains a dream, Sydney's dream has a lot of hints of what's to come and where this story will lead. You probably won't be able to connect the dots until you read the whole story, but you can surely try. ;)**

**Credits: This chapter contains dialogue adapted from "The Fiery Heart" written by Richelle Mead.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Seven<strong>: Sydney

_I can feel a sense of danger  
><em>_You stare at me like I'm a stranger  
><em>_Paralyzed and you don't seem to care_

__The demons in my dreams__

* * *

><p>Sometimes I felt like I couldn't breathe.<p>

Sometimes, I literally had to squeeze my eyes shut and count to ten to control it. My throat swells up, it felt like someone was trying to crush my windpipe. My stomach will churn and then the bile begins to rise…This was one of those times.

I was crumpled to the floor with my back against the bathroom door and my face buried in my hands as a million sensations ran through me. Sadness. Anger. Disappointment. They were just the beginning of the feelings threatening to burst from my heart. I couldn't stop thinking about the dreams and the blood and Adrian's lifeless body spread out underneath me. He didn't realize what he was doing to himself, of course. And how could he? This was who he was. It was what had attracted me to Adrian in the first place. Once you get past the strong, cocky exterior, you came to realize just how compassionate he was. He was a beautiful soul, truly. He could be utterly selfless when he really tried, too.

It wasn't like I didn't understand it. He saw the opportunity to save the girl, it was a temptation he couldn't resist. I was just worried that he wouldn't recognize the full impact of wielding that much spirit. Things like these had repercussions. Consequences. There was a way things were supposed to go, that girl… well, whatever happened, happened. She was meant to die under that car. It wasn't his responsibility to save her life. I knew I sounded heartless. But there was a person out there right now, a person who shouldn't be alive. With Jill... It happened; she was an anomaly; someone who I can understand had to come back. There was no point crying over spilt milk but... He had to realize that he couldn't save _everyone_. It's just… upsetting the balance and nature of things, it's going to have a ripple effect. If I were in Adrian's place, I knew that I would probably do the same thing but… It wasn't right. If things like this didn't have strong ramifications then spirit wielders would be saving the world already. There was a reason they were all either dead or driven mad.

The power to heal and be able to look into a person's aura. It sounded so harmless, so gifted and gentle. The universe had it all wrong. They had to corrupt it. They had to shroud it with darkness for it to work.

God, it wasn't fair. He'd helped her. There shouldn't be anything wrong with that, right? He shouldn't be punished for such a noble deed. Still… I knew the harsh truth. There was a line, at some point, that one shouldn't cross. There would be a big price to pay for what he was doing, I knew too well what had happened to spirit users in the past. And Adrian… he was pushing it too far. This was the second time he saved someone from a near-death situation, and while an amazing thing to do, it would cripple him. Spirit would take him over and then he'd never be my beautiful Adrian again. He'd be a shell of a human being. Dank, hollow, empty… crazed, eaten up and swallowed whole by that dark magic that resided within him.

I couldn't let that happen. I wouldn't. I hadn't even realized I was crying until I tasted the salt water in my mouth. I rubbed a few haphazard tears away. Suddenly, someone banged against the door rather feverishly. "Sydney, are you still in there?" It was Angeline's voice.  
>"Jill told me to leave you alone, but you can talk to me if you want!"<p>

I took a deep breath. It wasn't like me to break down like this, if there was one thing that my father ever taught me that held any weight, it was not to fret over everything. I stood up and washed my face, then practiced my trademark stoic Alchemist face in the mirror a couple of times before opening the door. Angeline was standing with her back against the wall and her arms crossed. "Ah, good. I thought you'd never get out of there. Are you okay?" I flashed her an impassive smile. "I'm fine, I'll just head back to my dorm." Angeline tilted her head just a little, "You reek of anxiety," I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'll be honest I only offered to talk to you because I really have to pee but hey, if you really need anything—" I cut her off and gave her another tight smile. "I've got tons of homework to finish so I'll be heading back now. Thanks, Angeline. Just… Stay out of trouble. Okay?"

Angeline sighed and nodded, passing me a nonplussed look before going into the bathroom and shutting the door. I nodded, feeling slightly less miserable already as I made my way back to my own dorm room so that I could go be pathetic and vulnerable in private instead.

xxxxx

Sulking was therapeutic. Who knew?

After spending some time alone in my room to gather my roller coaster of thoughts and emotions, I headed out on campus to hit the library. Mrs. T had texted me about a book she wanted me to check out relating to the next spell that she wanted me and Adrian to perform. She told me to tell the librarian to hand her the first book on pile seven from Jaclyn Terwilliger's collection.

After fetching the book, I decided to sit down in the library itself. Maybe being around other people would keep my mind from wandering too much. To add to my list of unsolved problems, I still wasn't sure if I was ready to perform another spell with Adrian. These things…They were intimate, the second spell that Mrs. T expected us to perform by the time she was back involved the most intimacy. We literally had to become one being for that spell to work. As I read on, my fears were only confirmed.

The second spell was known as an amalgamation spell, it required both subjects to literally combine their thoughts, experiences and their life forces for it to work perfectly. The magic used for conducting the spell was especially basic and didn't take too much time or work, but the spell itself was a long and treacherous process.

Adrian would be able to watch my entire life flash before his eyes; in a manner of speaking. The most important moments in my life, the happiest or saddest days, any event of the past that had taken a lot an emotional toll on me. He would be able to see it all, and it went both ways, too. It would be like literally being able to peep into someone else's head and heart for a few moments and that was… scary. I wasn't sure if I was ready for something like that. On the other hand… Well, on the other hand, it was all for a greater cause, one that I had promised to aid.

Someone tapping on my shoulder distracted me from my copious thoughts and dumped me back into the real world. A smile broke across my face when I looked up to see the familiar face of Trey Juarez. "Why, Melbourne. It's nice to see you. I thought you'd be stuffing your face with tortilla chips and sipping pina-coladas under the blue mexican sky right about now." I repressed a chuckle. It was so good to see him, it had been a while. He looked great as usual, with that sun-kissed tan, the unruly black hair and those intense brown eyes.

He grabbed a chair, flipped it over and sat down besides me. "It's good to see you too, Trey," I muttered. He quickly put a hand to his heart in mock dismay, "That's all you have to say for yourself? Gotta say, I'm a little offended that you didn't tell me you'd skipped the country and even more that you didn't tell me you're back. I guess I'm about to be one-upped as the number one contender to be Amberwood's smartest again." I rolled my eyes. Sometimes, I thought Trey's cockiness could compete with Adrian's. Why did I always get stuck with the most pretentious guys for friends?

I smiled at him though, warmly, feeling a little guilty myself. "I was looking for you when I made my obligatory coffee stop at Spencer's earlier, you were nowhere to be found. I _am_ really sorry I didn't tell you about Mexico, though. Forgive me?" I tilted my head to the side and passed him a pouty grin. He laughed, "No way, Melbourne. It's gonna take more than that to earn my stalwart friendship back." I thought about this. "I'll spy on Angeline for you."  
>Trey's smile dissipated at this, replaced with a slightly soulful frown. "Sold."<p>

I knew that Trey still pretty much had lingering feelings for Angeline, I was pretty sure the affection was mutual. Just like Jill, Angeline was only kidding herself with the attraction to Neil, I could tell that she, too, still missed Trey a lot. I kind of felt bad for them, thinking about my own messed up situation with Adrian. Palm Springs was certainly not Love Central at the moment. "Can you believe its been like the freaking North Pole out here these past few days? I was starting to think the end is coming." Trey joked. I almost choked on my own saliva at the accuracy. I wasn't sure for how long the supernatural snow was going to illicit laughs, so I immediately changed the subject. "How have you been?" I asked him, wanting to divert my mind again.

"As good as one can be when they're going against their very own birthright. My father's still as furious as they come, and I'm still not sure I want to be a part of the WOL, they're tacky and imperious. I'd rather run off with Angeline and those strange Keepers. You think I'd win in a fight to the death with Angeline's brother?" He wondered aloud, flexing his muscles at me. I laughed again, and some girl sitting across from us had to shush us. I sighed, "I'm sure you would do just fine but I don't think you'd survive a day in those conditions." Trey's eyes grew distant, "I'd do it for her."

I could feel my heart swell up at that comment. I suddenly felt terribly guilty that I ever felt uncomfortable about Trey and Angeline. Yes, she had cheated on Eddie and that was wrong but I could tell just how much they wanted to be together simply by reading their expressions. I wanted them to be happy. If I wasn't going to get that flowery fairy-tale ending, I could at least wish it for my friends, right? Unfortunately, social whims, customs and taboos were more important to consider than feelings and emotions.

"Yo, Juarez! You coming or not?" Some guy in a green jersey called out from the other side of the library. The girl and a few others shushed him. Trey turned to look at me, "That's my cue, you take care, Melbourne. We'll gossip and braid each other's hair later this week? Call me. Oh, and don't forget to watch Angeline's every waking move while you're at it! Later."

He skipped off, and I felt myself smiling again. An hour or so of reading later, my brain couldn't take it anymore and I decided that I'd hit the bed a little early today. I skipped dinner, not feeling the slighest bit hungry—but it had nothing to do with my weight watch. I just didn't think I could stomach anything today. As soon as I was back in my room and the lights were off, my throat began to throb and the anxiety was back.

Adrian and his growing spirit concerns. Some crazy she-witch trying to freeze Palm Springs to death. Elemental magic malfunctioning. My brain was about ready to jump out of my head and go on a long, tedious vacation. Somehow, a few frantic minutes later, though, my drowsiness got the best of me and sleep caught up with me.

Momentarily, all my problems seemed to go away.

Until they were back. In the form of a dream.

xxxxx

_I'm standing in a theme park, it's dark and dusty; so I can't see very clearly. My surroundings flicker like someone is flipping a switch on and off. The theme-park is full, packed with people in all kinds of costumes. A woman in an old-fashioned dress talks to a man in a wizard's cloak. A tall guy dressed like… a reindeer in a suit? is delivering drinks to a tiny old woman and Julia. Most of the faces that pass me by, however, are a blur._

_My friends are here, too. Dimitri Belikov is the first person I recognize. He is dressed like a ninja in a fully black uniform complete with a nunchuck and tabi boots. Next to him stands Rose, who is dressed in a white wedding dress. She's holding a red rose in her right hand and has a strange black mist surrounding her._

_"What's going on?" I ask. "Are we going somewhere?"_

_"Maybe," Dimitri says. "I wouldn't know. I'm just along for the rides."_

_"I think it depends on the ride," Rose says. "Which one are you getting on?"_

_"I… don't know," I reply. Something ahead of me catches my eye: a glimpse of familiar green eyes and dark tousled hair. "I have to go." I tell them. They don't stop me as I walk past._

_"Be safe!" Dimitri calls, "Yes. It's a dark road ahead. Don't stumble!" Rose agrees._

_I push through the crowd. Mrs. Terwilliger is down a little further. Malachi Wolfe is standing to her left. She is dressed like the fairy godmother from Cinderella in blue robes and a wand. Malachi Wolfe wears nothing but a red cape over his normal attire and an overgrown mustache._

_"Hello, Sydney," Mrs. Terwilliger says. "I'm glad that you could make it. I was beginning to get worried."_

_I frown. "I've always been here."_

_Malachi Wolfe laughs, "So much to learn, child."_

_I try to look past them, in hopes of getting a better look at the tent behind them. "Do you want to stay back? You have the option, you know." Mrs. Terwilliger suggests. "Not right now. I've got to…" I look around. People press on all sides, but ahead, dissapearing into the tent, I catch a flash of the familiar brown hair again. I push on._

_Jill and Angeline stop me next. Jill is dressed like a princess in a bright pink gown and has a tiara perched upon her head. Angeline is wearing the same ninja outfit that Dimitri wore. Neil is standing in between the both of them, dressed as a giant gift box._

_"I don't think all this pink and gold goes with my hair," Jill complains._

_"You can take it off, you know." Angeline explains. "You've only misunderstood the metaphor."_

_"What metaphor?" I ask._

_Jill looks at me seriously. "Why are you still here? You don't have much time, Sydney. She awaits him."_

_"But it's too confidential."_

_"You can't hide forever." Angeline points out. "He can see," Jill insists, "He will help you."_

_She hands me a purple t-shirt with a fiery heart drawn on it. My surroundings flicker again, gleaming off soft brown hair and pale skin up ahead._

_"I have to go," I tell Angeline and Jill._

_I follow my instinct and make it to the tent somehow. I take a few steps in. There is a long, narrow corridor that looks endless. There are several mirrors to both my sides. In one mirror, I see myself standing in formal Alchemist wear with a book in my hand and a pencil in my hair. In another, I am clad in a black Halloween witch costume with a hat and a green wig. In the third mirror I look at, I am a mess. My hair are sticking out, my clothes are wrinkly and my mascara is smudged. In the last mirror that I get a glimpse at, I am dressed as I am right now, and staring back at my own reflection._

_I walk out of the tent somehow. The patch of ground ahead of me is full of people, and somehow I know that they're Alchemists. Zoe waits for me just outside, flanked on one side by my father and on the other by my mother._

_"We have been waiting for you," Zoe says. My father looks angry. My mother looks sad._  
><em>"What took you so long?"<em>

_"She can't stay with us, Zoe." My mother's voice is gentle. "She's got places to be."_

_My dad huffs, his eyes red. "If she leaves us now, there's no turning back."_

_"Where does this road lead? I don't know which ride I'm supposed to be on," I explain, confused._

_"It goes part of the way," My mother tells me. "But we've switched paths."_

_I'm not sure how I get there but I'm now on a train. I make my way to the next car and Eddie waits for me at the door. He's holding a small key._

_"You made the right choice," Eddie says. "I hope you'll visit us again. It gets really lonely, you know."_

_I take the key from him, the door opens and I go through._

_"See you later, Syd," Keith says, stepping into the doorway behind me. He is dressed as a robot. "You're gonna need lots of shoes. Oh, and don't forget to bring back my eye." He pulls something and our cars disconnect. The one with him, the Alchemists and my family goes rattling off into the darkness, along another track. I shut the door._

_The car I'm now on is full of dead people. I can't see most of their faces, but somehow, I know they're all dead. They stand silently as I pass. I think I see Micah, or, someone who looks like him as I walk on. All the figures around me are transparent. The car drops me off at a beach. The sun is setting in the sky._

_Marcus, Wade and Amelia stand in front of me. Marcus's face is painted to look like a sad clown, complete with a droopy red mouth and blue tears running down his ridged cheeks. The whole effect is pretty gruesome._

_"It might have been different," he tells me. "It just comes off so easily."_

_Wade, who is next to him, smiles at me wistfully. "Leaving two worlds behind. That's dangerous."_

_Amelia's eyes grow big as she regards me. "No, I think she'll make it."_

_Marcus sounds dissapointed, "I wish we had, too."_

_None of them stop me as I walk past them, trying to locate that familiar… I see him rounding a corner behind a palm tree. I follow._

_We leave the beach behind and I find Trey next, he is wearing a monkey's outfit._  
><em>"They wouldn't listen," he mutters sadly. "They'll come for your friends."<em>

_"Why would you say that?" I ask._

_Trey laughs harshly. "Because they told me to."_

_I walk past Trey, still in a hurry. Finally, I find him. He's standing on the edge of the lane. There is a barbed-wire fence that reads, 'Dead-End.' Adrian turns around._

_"I was trying to catch up," I tell him. Adrian has a transparent rope fastened tightly around his neck, and half of his face is shrouded in shadow so I can only see one green eye. __"I know. I wish you didn't." He says._

_I stare at him. "Why not?" He points at something behind me. I turn around._

_The moon is rising in the sky behind me, eclipsing the sun. Far, far ahead, a tall white tower juts up over the horizon. There are three sections of land in front of me. There are millions of frozen people in the first one, vampires and humans killing each other in a battle of swords and fangs in the second, and a small globe catches on fire and burns up in the third. All my friends, family, they're there, too. I can feel it._

_I turn back to Adrian. He looks scary, paler than usual. There is blood. And then, his eyes go as ice blue as a frozen lake and open wide. "She's coming," he says._

_"Who's coming?" I ask._

_Before he can answer that, I turn and what I see makes me—_

wake up with a gasp.

I sat up in my bed for a long time after that, shivering under the blankets, trying to get warm.

xxxxx"What do you make of it?" I asked Mrs. T the next day. I'd written down the whole dream in the dream journal that she'd asked me to keep and was explaining a few details of it to her on the phone.

"Can you describe again the creature you saw? The one at the very end?"

I shivered but nodded. "Horrible. Female. Platinum-blonde hair. Hard, white skin, a little craggy, actually. Her eyes were strange; hypnotic. Like a kaleidoscope. She had sharp teeth. She looked… inhuman, Mrs. Terwilliger. Like—Like a demon or something."

She was quiet for atleast half a minute before she spoke up again. "I see, it's certainly not… something we've, ah, faced in the past." I could practically hear her polishing her glasses. "No," I agreed, "Definitely not." She huffed on the other end of the line, "I'll dig up as much as I can. Today, we go to visit the ancient witch from our clan. Hopefully she will be able to provide us with some viable information. I will be back tomorrow itself since I can see things are very urgent back there. For today, I'd like you to finish one of the spells that I asked you to conduct; and hold a meeting. Ask your buddies to, erhm…Yes, ask them to do some research. I'll text you some of the titles of the books they must go through."

I sighed languidly, I didn't have much of a choice, so I agreed and cut the phone with her. As I walked to class later that day, I couldn't help but feel extremely rattled. I hadn't slept well that night, I was afraid I'd receive another dream and I'm sorry but one freakish cryptic dream per night is more than enough. During English, I found my mind drifting. I wondered why Malachi Wolfe was with Mrs. T in that dream. I hoped it wasn't _that_ prophetic. That creepy mental picture itself managed to put a lid on the dream-induced thoughts for a while, to my relief.

I called on the meeting at Mrs. T's home once everyone's classes were finished for the day. I felt a little grateful that she'd given me the spare keys to her place so that we could have a space to conduct these things. Adrian's apartment wasn't a bad idea, but it was too small and didn't have most of the supplies we needed. "I'm glad everyone could make it. Mrs. Terwilliger wants us all to do some research of the specific books that I will name in a moment, so… yeah. Let's get to it." I explained, mentally ticking off the books as I called the titles out loud.

I was going through the book with the first spell's instructions as everyone else was sprawled about the rest of the living room. Jill peered at something she saw in one of the books, "Did you know that there's a spell here that cooks shrimp for you? Imagine how much money we'd make if we opened a seafood restaurant." Eddie choked back a laugh, something he was becoming a master at thanks to his seemingly in-built guardian adroitness.

"Focus guys." I mumbled, not even looking up at them. Neil stood up, tossing a book on the couch. The book hit a cat and it mewed in protest, he winced. "Oops," Adrian rolled his eyes, "What did Jaws ever do to you?" Neil loured at Adrian, "Jaws?" Adrian shrugged, flipping through a random page in the book he was going through. "That cat bites. Jackie named him that for a reason - Didn't you know?" Neil took a few steps away from it, suddenly staring at it with fear like it was the Anti Christ. Adrian chuckled and Neil registered the fact that it was a joke. "That was cruel. Anyway, I must go head for a donut run now, so you are excused."

The guy spoke about going on a donut run like he was going to an annual general meeting.

"Orders everyone?" They gave him their orders and he left us to our research. Jill groaned,  
>"How are we supposed to look for something that we've never actually seen before? Most of these books are pure gibberish—I'm not any good at this!" Angeline nodded at Jill,<p>

"Just do what I do. Flip through the pages and look busy."

I slammed my book shut as loudly as I could. That got everyone to pay attention. I took a deep breath and let it out before I spoke, "This is serious business. There is a reason we hold these meetings. We're not here to slack. Anyone who wants to, however, is free to leave. The door is right there," I pointed at the door. "Something is stirring up trouble, the whole world is in danger and that compromises of all of us. Either you take this seriously or you leave the rest of us be. There's no time to waste."

Jill flashed me a concerned look, Eddie stayed quiet. Angeline had an irritated expression on her face but didn't speak up, either. Adrian however, had to say something. "Geez, Sage. We're doing the best we can."

"Then do better," I grumbled, knowing how rude I'd just sounded. "Ugh!" I exclaimed, rubbing my eyes a little and crashing back into my seat. "I'm sorry." I then muttered, when I could think straight again. "I didn't mean to… I know how difficult this must be for you guys. You're doing relatively well. I'm—I shouldn't be so hard on you. Just…Take five if you'd like."

"You sure?" Eddie arched a brow, I nodded, flashing him as much of a smile as I could muster. "Finally. Thanks, Sydney." Angeline muttered, standing up and walking into Mrs. T's kitchen. Jill just stared at me with a pensive look on her face. Adrian walked over.

He sat down across from me on the table, and grabbed my hand from under it, when nobody was paying attention. He clasped it tight, squeezing it and spreading warmth and courage throughout my body. The contact left my skin wanting more. The butterflies had also returned, and they were ever-ready to stage a performance. "What's wrong?" He asked.

I had to bite back a smile. Adrian always seemed to be able to read my moods. It's like he had a backstage pass to the inner workings of my mind. I sighed, rubbing my temples,"Its… nothing. The dreams are just getting worse, and starting to take a toll on my body. I barely slept a wink last night and—and now, I… I have this spell to finish in time for Mrs. Terwilliger to come back, which is tomorrow by the way. That means I'll have to start working on it today itself and… I'm a blithering idiot, aren't I?" I flashed Adrian a small sheepish grin.

It wasn't like me—well, the regular me, to be ranting on about how unfair my life was and yet here I was doing exactly that. I bit my tongue before speaking, "I'm supposed to be the level-headed one between the two of us," He smiled at that. "I forget."

He shook his head, "We can reverse those roles in a heartbeat," I rolled my eyes, "No, you see, I like being the one calming other people down. When I'm the one who is in need of the calming… Well, let's just say hell's about to freeze over."

Adrian smirked at that, "Do you see the irony in that analogy or shall I point it out?"

I bit my lip sheepishly and he gave my hand a gentle squeeze under the table. I was pretty sure that my goosebumps were about to get goosebumps. "Hey," he said, his entrancing green eyes boring down into my own. The sunlight from the window nearby highlighted the features on the side of his face. Sometimes, I thought that Adrian was a sculpted masterpiece, just as magnificent as his own artistry work. "You remember what I told you?" I nodded, "You don't have to do anything that you don't want to. No pressure."

I sighed, instantly feeling some of my anxiety lifting already. "Adrian," my voice was barely a whisper but he heard me and arched an eyebrow. "I'm still upset," he didn't need to be told about what. He knew it, the look on his face said it all. His mouth twisted to a little testy curve. "I figured you'd say that. Listen Sage… I don't think that's a subject that's debatable. I know what you're gonna say—" I cut him off, "Do you really, though? Spirit is known to be a curse for a reason, you know. If it was all about healing and saving lives then I'm pretty sure the world would be a better place today. Your healing power that prevented a girl from being killed? That's almost as unnatural as our supernatural snowstorm - perhaps even more. There are books, I… I could show them to you, depicting the lives of spirit users in the past; ones whose lives ended quite tragically. I will not stand here and watch you as you crash and burn."

Adrian took a deep breath and leaned a little away from me, there was a haunted look in his eyes, like reliving past events. "You think I don't know that? Lissa used to cut herself till she almost bled herself dry, Sonya Karp willingly turned herself into a Strigoi because she thought that turning into a mutated killing machine was a better option than letting spirit drown her in her own insanity. There are more… stories. Maybe I'm drawn to the darkness. Maybe I came out wrong. I… I don't know, but it doesn't stop me from doing what I think is right. I wouldn't have been able to bloody bare it, Sage, god… If I'd let that girl die? I would have blamed myself for days. It would feel like her blood was on my hands, even if I wasn't the cause of her death. So yes, I know all the risks and the consequences but I don't think there's anything that I can do about it. So can we please drop the subject?"

I shook my head, "You have to see things from an outsider's perspective. Meddling with these things have dire consequences. I'm not going to stand by and watch you destroy your life! I don't want to have to come visit you in some crabby rehabilitation center in the middle of nowhere! I don't want to imagine what could happen if you take one step too far. Think of it as quicksand, if you dip a toe in... You're going to be sucked in underneath, you can't come back from that." Adrian stared at me, his eyes wide. "Don't you have any consideration at all? I saved lives! I did something noble! It's… It's all the good I'll ever do in this world, okay?"

My jaw dropped. "Why would you say that?"

He shook his head, "Nevermind. I'll put it in words you can understand. This is a temptation I can't fight."

"Then remove it. Talk to a doctor. Take the decision away, and see what wondrous things you can do when you're in control of yourself again."

We stared intensely into one another's eyes for what felt like an eternity. Finally he swallowed and began to stand, shaking his head and muttering things under his breath that I just couldn't catch. Suddenly, I realized that we were in public and that nobody in this room other than Jill had one clue of my not-so-professional relationship with Adrian.

I froze. I think Adrian realized at the same time I did. We both gawked at the others. Jill looked extremely tense, she was holding her head like she thought it was going to fall off id she didn't. Neil had come back from his trip to bring everyone snacks; Eddie and Angeline whispered in hush tones. Finally, someone broke the nerve-racking awkwardness.

"We are going to leave now. Neil and I have to go start our training session." Angeline announced, at this, Jill seemed to pipe up. I was pretty sure that she'd felt the brunt of Adrian's wavering emotions just a few minutes ago, but name our good man Neil and she was all doe-eyed and swooning in a matter of seconds. "Can I join? I'd like to watch and learn some stuff on my own." She cooed.

Angeline frowned, grabbing a hold of Neil's arm. "I really don't think that's necessary," she grit her teeth. Neil, for once, nodded in agreement. "I think it would be best if you leave the protecting to us, your Highness. I do not mean to offend you, but if you ever were in the position of a danger so severe that you must defend your own life then that would mean that we did not do our job right." Jill loured right back at her, knowing that Angeline had pushed the right buttons. "Can I atleast join you guys so that I can watch? It wouldn't be so bad to have the knowledge of a few techniques. No harm done, right?" Neil seemed convinced. He bowed gallantly, a respectful glint in his eye. "Of course, your Highness." Jill smirked roguishly. It was funny, she used to get uncomfortable when he addressed her like a princess; now she was relishing in it.

"Ugh. _Fine._ She can come, but she gets to look on from a safe distance. We wouldn't want our _royal highness_ to get herself hurt. This isn't child's play, you know. It takes strength and bravery." Angeline's voice was dripping with venom, Jill licked her lips, muttering some curses that even I didn't know the meaning of under her breath.

Jill stood up, "We'll see about that." Angeline groaned, starting to follow a very confused Neil out of the room and petulantly mumbling stuff like, "If only she wasn't the queen's sister. I would have shown her—would have proven my worth the way we do it back home - with fists flying and jaws tight."

Despite Angeline's current childish animosity towards Jill, I knew for a fact that she would do anything to protect Jill when it came to it. "How good are you at javelin-throwing? Back home, we used to play this game on Friday nights..." Angeline and Neil were out the door before I could catch any more of that conversation. Jill flashed us a knowing, sympathetic grin as she walked out. Eddie frowned at the two of us, "Do you need me for more research work?"

I sighed, an idea dawning over me—one that admittedly did _not_ work to my benefit. "Adrian and I have to conduct that spell that Mrs. Terwilliger assigned us. You can stay if you want to but…" Eddie raised his hands up, already half way out the door. "Nah, I get it. You kids have fun. Don't get too worked up—oh, and Sydney? I'm a phone call away if you need anything." He flashed me a small smile, a professional one to Adrian; and then left the two of us to deal with our looming problems.

I smiled back at Eddie, I'd forgotten how genuine and considerate he could be. He still felt slightly vary leaving me alone with Adrian; as long as he was aware, I still thought of vampires as daunting abominations and whatnot. I knew that he would have stayed if I'd asked, but I couldn't have distractions for the spell to work right.

Adrian sighed in relief, "I thought we were busted for a second. I thought I was going to throw up this morning's breakfast with the tension in the air." I nodded, "We need to be careful. Look, I would love to sit around here for the rest of the day, passing remarks and violent retorts at each other but we've got some more important things to focus on."

Adrian didn't have to be told twice. He was practically begging for a change of subject.

"Ready?" He asked, when most of the stuff we needed for the spell was in place.

"Ready enough to know that we need to do this before I change my mind."


	8. The Amalgamation Spell

**A/N: I'm sorry for the late post, I've just been super busy. Not to mention that this story has not gotten the response I'd hoped, I barely have any feedback and I guess I'd expected more. I'd like to think there are still a few, however sparse, loyal readers who may still be interested in this story, which is why I decided to continue posting, but if I still don't get any feedback after this, I may not be motivated to post the next one.**

**I hope I don't come off as rude, I hope you understand. Thank you. xxx**

**Credits: This chapter contains dialogue adapted from "Last Sacrifice" written by Richelle Mead.**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter Eight: <strong>Sydney

_It's easy to fall in love _  
><em>But it's so hard to <em>

_break somebody's heart... _

_what seemed like a good idea has_  
><em>turned into a battlefield<em>

* * *

><p>Sometimes I rehashed everything that had happened in my life this past year, and I wondered when my life had gotten so messed up.<p>

So difficult, so complex so… dissimilar to what it was like back in my Alchemist-days. Sometimes it felt like that was another life. Now I was an amateur witch slash conflicted Alchemist. I was having love affairs with sexy vampires and pointing guns at Alchemist rebels, fighting murderous witches, cleaning up Keith's messes and constantly dealing with the trauma that came with living the taboo.

I was friends with a bunch of vampires, outcasts and witches. And I liked it.

They were like a second family to me by now. Zoe and my mom were great, but they couldn't always be there for me, and my father's influence was already rubbing off on Zoe like I'd expected it to. My father was never much of a father, I wasn't really a daughter to him; simply a project. He had one goal for me in life, and that was that I follow in his footsteps, no questions asked. My life was panned out for me before I even knew how to walk. I'd accepted it, I'd come to terms with my fate. Once and a while, I even learnt to like it, get used to it, blend in… never stand out. I kept the attention off me.

Now, well let's just say that if I was a celebrity, I'd be front page news for six months straight.  
>To add to the tumult, I now had to deal with some crazy lady who was going to break out war and destruction by meddling with elemental magic. I'd read up on enough magic history and specifics to know that when dark magic and light magic mixed, bad things happened.<p>

So now here I was, conducting a spell with my spirit-induced vampire friend. Is that what we were? Friends? I wasn't quite sure. Especially not after the abrupt blowout that almost got us exposed in front of our friends and threatened our positions in both the vampire and Alchemist societies.

I didn't like casting spells, even if the high that I sometimes got from it was addictive. The Sydney from my past life would have shuddered, dissaproved and ran screaming in the other direction. She wouldn't have been comfortable with the revolting anomalous witchcraft business. She wouldn't like standing in a ten mile radius of a vampire, let alone be holding hands with and kissing one.

Most of all, though, I hated doing these spells in particular. Why? Adrian had to draw on his spirit ability to be able to conduct these spells conclusively. He's practically begging the darkness to take him over with the amount he's been using lately. He thinks he's made of spirit, I've told him only a million times that he's so, so much more. If I had to make a list on the interesting things and inherent charms of Adrian Ivashkov, spirit would be the last thing on it—in fact, I'm not even sure it would make the list. He doesn't see it from my point of view, though. He doesn't comprehend how special he is. He has no idea what he means to me. He changed me, in a good way. I was boring, with a drone-like personality and bigotted thoughts back in my old life, Adrian had pulled me out of that. He'd ploughed me out of my comfort zone and pushed me into a world that I couldn't even begin to understand. He'd caught me by surprise, and I was hurtling head first out of my comfort zone and crumbling right into his world.

He'd given me a taste of the real world.

Unfortunetely or fortunetely, it wasn't enough to quench my thirst. I'd never admit it, but I was drawn to his world. To him. I wanted to drench in it, drown in it, do the backstroke in it. And if I lost him… I choked back a cough that had been building up with the pressure that the chaotic thoughts were causing inside me. My gut twisted and I winced.

Adrian frowned, concern flashing in his eyes. "You alright there, Sage?"

I nodded, gulping. We sat opposite to each other once again, crossed-legged and with our palms on our hips. There were no real supplies that were needed for this spell, thankfully. It was quite basic, actually.

"I'm fine. Listen, Adrian. I'm going to be describing exactly what this whole spell is about. Just… let me know if you follow. Got it?"

Adrian sighed, still a little dubious but eventually shrugged it off. "Aye, aye, Captain."

"The nether-realm exists beyond the physical world. Accesing it is, it's kind of like astral projection. It's very intense. We'd have to be each other's anchors, to keep us on this plane."  
>Adrian furrowed an eyebrow, "Like an out of body experience?" I thought about this, then firmly nodded. "Something like that."<p>

He smiled at me, "Bring on the fairydust, Tinkerbell."

I had to bite back a smile again. It was strange how Adrian and I had been fighting only a few minutes ago and now we were on the verge of conducting one of the most intimate spells known to witchcraft in the last few years, anyway. I knew this had to be a little hard on him, these kinds of spells…They could be freaky. I had to give him points for never letting his bravado falter. "It's not just that," I muttered, "There's more?" Adrian asked.

"I'm afraid so. You see the thing is, in order for the anchor part of the spell to work, we need to be connected. I'm not sure you would understand the scientific term, so I'll go with the one easier to digest. Our life forces, the… the energies surrounding us. Basically our auras, they have to be connected, bounded together in order to keep hold on each other so that they're firmly in place. That's why it's known as an amalgamation spell."

Adrian nodded, looking a little perspective; but he gestured for me to go on. "Binding two auras together is easier said than done. See, it can only be done if the subjects in question have shared experiences, memories and feelings of certain periods of each other's lives. Without that, there's nothing for the auras to catch a hold of and anchor on. Ever heard of the saying about someone's life flashing before their eyes? Imagine something like that. You'll be able to… experience the memory like you were actually right there with me during pivotal periods or events in my life and vice versa. This way, you will feel the emotions I went through, see the entire memory play out exactly like it did in the past, but from my perspective. Is… Is any of this making any sense to you?"

Adrian simply nodded, again, he was uncharacteriscally quiet. At this point, he didn't even have any snarky one-liners for me. That made me nervous, but I went on anyway.

"After that, once we've successfully binded our auras together, we'll be able to get closer to finding what we're looking for. Using our combined minds, emotions and memories, we'll be able to put together a pretty clear picture of what lies ahead. I believe that I received some interesting hints about what's to come in my prophetic dreams; and you did too, when our female culprit visited you in your dreams. I wish I could give you a better idea of what we're going to face, but it's all just too complicated."

I frowned, trying to read his face. Unfortunetely, his stoic expression almost rivalled my own.

"I trust you." He finally said, about a minute later.

"It's not like anything we've ever—"

"I trust you." He repeated.

And that was that. Clearly, he wasn't going to argue about this. We began the spell.

xxxxx

It was surreal.

I begun the incantation and continued to repeat it for a while, we both kept looking straight ahead. It began to affect us after the first few words. I could feel the sweat beading on my forehead, my breathing was haggered, and so was his. I concentrated on the sound of our deep breathing. My right hand traced along the carpet and suddenly left a trail of light.

The arcs of light began to close in around us, forming a perfect circle. Adrian gasped, his eyes widening. I stopped chanting. We took each other's hands and held them up, palm to palm. Our breaths were still heavy, something was coursing through us as the hoop of light began to rise. It passed over us and dissipated eventually, followed by another. And another. I looked over to Adrian, my eyes suddenly clouded with sensation. I took a sudden, startled breath and keeled backwards, a vision gripping me.

At first, everything around me was hazy and unclear, like standing on a deserted road covered in thick fog. Slowly, a few silhouettes and shapes began to appear, molding themselves into existence. Now I stood inside a room. It was spacious and looked somewhat like a dorm room. The window was open, but little sunlight streamed through. I didn't even realize that I was standing in St. Vladimir's Academy, the school for moroi and dhampirs at the Moroi Royal Court until I noticed the lavish curtains and bedsheets.

Two people were now in front of me, it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust.

Rose Hathaway and Adrian Ivashkov.

Both their expressions were wary; Adrian was sitting on her bed, watching her carefully. He had a tight smile fixed on his lips, but I could tell it was one of severe pain and resentment. "Adrian—" Rose began, but he cut her off, not letting her finish her sentence. "Let's start with this, little dhampir," he said, a little overly nicely so I could tell it was diplomatic. "Was it going on before you left Court?"

Rose's expression said it all: she was feeling guilty, but at the same time, I was pretty sure she didn't regret whatever she had done. "No. I was with you. Just you." Her voice was soft. "Well. That's something," I could tell he was about to let his guard down, his face remained calm; but I saw his mien beginning to waver. "Better some rekindling of sparks in the heat of battle or quest or whatever than you cheating right in front of me."

Suddenly, a million emotions hit me like a tidal wave. I shivered. I was angry, dissapointed, betrayed by the one that I loved so much. Wait… It wasn't me. These were the emotions Adrian was feeling at this precise moment. The ache in his chest was getting worse, his head throbbed and felt heavy from all the booze and tobacco. He felt like someone had shot him in the heart; leaving a hole where Rose once used to be. He wanted to yell at her, roar at her, make her pay for this great injustice. He wanted her to feel how horrible he felt. And at the same time, he felt like he'd known it. Somewhere deep down, at the very core of his being, he'd known that this day was an inevitable one. He'd held on with knuckles white and tight for as long as he could, and now it was finally time to let go.

But he wasn't ready.

Not ready for the pain or the agony. It wasn't fair. He could break a million hearts, and when he chose to give his away to that one special girl; she stomped on it and rendered it bruised and bloody.

Rose's face was tense. "No, I swear. I didn't—nothing happened then…not until—" It looked like she was hesitating, finding it hard to put her thoughts in words. Adrian groaned, his heart pounding inside his chest like a sick drumbeat; mocking him. "Later?" he guessed. "Which makes it okay?"

"No! Of course not. I…" she let her words trail off. She knew it. She knew how much it pained him. God, he hated her so much. This…This was all her fault. She was the reason that his life was so screwed up. She'd walked into his life, all charms and smiles; and left him begging for more. She'd destroyed his life in the process.

There was a pregnant pause before she spoke again. "I'm sorry," she said. It was the stupidest thing she could say. Didn't she know how painful it was? Couldn't she at least pretend to be more empathetic? "I'm sorry. What I did was wrong. I didn't mean for it to happen. I thought… I really thought he and I were done. I was with you. I wanted to be with you. And then, I realized that—"

Was she really about to recite her love story to him? Inconsiderate bitch. He cut her off, feeling the ache rising in his chest and making it's way to his throat. "No, no—stop." He held up his hand, his voice was tight and his walls were almost completely down now. "I really do _not_ want to hear about the great revelation you had about how you guys were always meant to be together or whatever it was." She remained quiet. Really? She didn't even bother to console him.

This was downright cruel. What had he ever done to deserve such a fate? He fell in love for the first time, he was willing to do anything for her. When he was around her, at least he could pretend to give a damn about someone other than himself. He could pretend he was a better guy than he was. And she was snatching all that away from him.

Bloody unfair.

"Really, it's my fault. It was there. A hundred times there. How often did I see it? I knew. It kept happening. Over and over, you'd say you were through with him… and over and over, I'd believe it… no matter what my eyes showed me. No matter what my heart told me. My. Fault." His voice was so unhinged it cracked in places and he'd have to swallow hard to keep from choking up. "Adrian I—"

She was not going to get away with this. How dare she do it to him. Did she even know who he was? He was Adrian Freaking Ivashkov… He didn't need her. A pit of extreme sorrow began to pool in his gut.

"I loved you!" He yelled out, not really taking a moment to think before he opened his mouth.

"I loved you, and you destroyed me. You took my heart and ripped it up. You might as well have staked me!" He grumbled. Rose looked awash with a dozen emotions, the one most prominent on her face was surprise. She was taken aback by the brunt of his words. Well… It didn't matter. She had to know how he felt!

He strode up to her, his heart literally breaking inside of him. He wasn't sure he'd ever felt this much pain in his life before this. Maybe he had. He didn't know. He wasn't thinking straight. Wait…

She HAD to know.

"I. Loved. You. And you used me the whole time." He clasped a hand over his chest, wishing that he could just stick a hand in there and pull it right out in front of him so that it would stop bloody hurting so much!

"No, no. It's not true." Rose's voice was a little conflicted now, "I wasn't using you. I loved you. I still do, but—"

Was she absolutely kidding? Had she rehersed these clichéd lines so that she could make things worse. She might as well have dropped an anvil on his head and been done with it. That would probably be less painful. This—This kind of behaviour was revolting, how could she think that saying a bunch of horse shit like that was going to make it all unicorns and butterflies again? Frigid bitch.

"Rose, come on." He couldn't believe the words falling out of her mouth any more than he could believe the words coming out of his own.

"I mean it! I do love you." He stood up, trying to look her in the eye; despite the voice in his head telling him to turn around and walk away. I looked on, trying to comfort him, but I suspected there wasn't a thing I could do. This was not Adrian; merely a ghost from a memory. I realized that I was feeling every emotion and thought going through his head. Instantly, I lost track of myself again.

"I always will, but we're not… I don't think we work as a couple."

Adrian scoffed, "That's a bullshit breakup line, and you know it." She wasn't serious, was she? He was losing his shit here, feeling like a complete idiot for not recognizing any of the hints sooner and now she was giving him one of the lamest breakup lines to grace the face of this earth. Did she really think that he was going to buy that? Did she think anyone would?

Stupid, stupid, stupid. Moron.

"I'm not… I'm not the one for you." She mumbled brusquely. Adrian looked like he'd just been slapped in the face. That stung. "Because you're with another guy?" He retorted weakly. "No, Adrian. Because… I don't. I don't know. I don't…" her stuttering was becoming borderline ridiculous and agitating his already hyperactive nerves further. His throat was starting to dry up. "I don't balance you like you need." She offered.

"What the hell does that mean?"

Adrian was starting to look dangerous, his face darkened and his eyes were wild. "The fact that you have to ask that says it all. When you find that person… You'll know."

Adrian scoffed again, feeling like she was beginning to talk a bunch of gibberish that made zero sense and held no value. How would she know! She couldn't grasp how it felt to be cheated on, betrayed, stabbed in the back, bested by some stupid Russian Overlord. He felt alone, angry at the world… at her for putting him in this position. For making him feel…

For making him feel like such a—waste, of space and time. Used, disgraced… Rose wasn't done. She just kept hitting homeruns. Back. To. Bloody. Back.

"And I know this sounds like another bullshit breakup line, but I really would like to be your friend." This had to be some sort of cosmic joke. He couldn't believe she could say something like that and keep a straight face. Friends? That would be torturous. Seeing her everyday, talking to her everyday, to know that every night she would curl up to that big, nasty… jerk. To know that she would kiss him and hold his hand and be okay with that.

He began to laugh suddenly, it sounded harsh and stale; slightly bemused. "You know what's great? You're serious. Look at your face." He gestured at her. She looked dissapointed, and bit her lip. There was concern in her eyes that proved she _did_ care about him; but it didn't matter. Not right now.

"You really think it's that easy, that I can sit here and watch your happy ending. That I can watch you getting everything you want as you lead your charmed life."

It was a harsh taunt. He sounded like he didn't want her to be happy. Which wasn't exactly true, but too many emotions—trumped by exhilarating rage, were clouding his judgement. Suddenly, Rose's eyes flashed with a dangerous glint, like anger. "Charmed!" She shouted,  
>then her voice levelled down a little. "Hardly. Do you know what I've gone through in the last year?"<p>

"And yet, here you are, triumphant after it all. You survived death and freed yourself from the bond. Lissa's queen. You got the guy and your happily ever after." He knew that he sounded like he wanted her to endure pain; well maybe he did, a little.

Rose turned back to him, her expression incredulous before she stalked away and replied, "Adrian, what do you want me to say? I can apologize forever, but there's nothing else I can do here. I never wanted to hurt you; I can't say that enough. But the rest? Do you really expect me to be sad about everything else having worked out? Should I wish I was still accused of murder?" His answer was instant, "No,"

"I don't want you to suffer. Much. But the next time you're in bed with Belikov, stop a moment and remember that not everyone made out as well as you did." He was going to push all the right buttons, prod where it hurt most. It seemed to have worked better than he'd thought. Rose winced, "Adrian, I never—" he cut her off, playing her misery to his advantage.

"Not just me, little dhampir," he added, his tone lowering. "There's been a lot of collateral damage along the way while you battled against the world. I was a victim, obviously. But what about Jill? What happens to her now that you've abandoned her to the royal wolves? And Eddie? Have you thought about him? Where's your Alchemist?"

His voice was cold again. He knew all of Rose's weak links. She was the nicest person he'd known. Considerate. Always worried about the people around her. This should hurt like a knife twisting through the gut. He hoped. Unexplicable pain crossed Rose's features before she formed the words to speak, "Victim," she said slowly, after a few minutes of utter silence.

"That's the difference between you and me."

He wanted to think up a jarring response, he wanted to make a rude joke at her expense, he wanted to say something better than the word that came out. "Huh?"

Alas, that didn't work. "What are you talking about?"

"You said you were a victim. That's why… that's why ultimately, you and I aren't matched for each other. In spite of everything that happened, I've never thought of myself that way. Being a victim means you're powerless. That you won't take action. Always… always I've done something to fight for myself… for others. No matter what."

Extreme outrage crossed his already strained features. Really? Was she actually insulting him after outrightly cheating on him? Insensitive was the least disgusting word he could think up for something like this. Rage boiled through him once again. His nostrils flared, his head spun, his eyes sharp as daggers. "That's what you think of me? That I'm lazy? Powerless?"

Rose looked confused for a second, but then seemed to make peace with something. She sighed, "No, I think you're amazing. I think you're strong. But I don't think you've realized it—or learned how to use any of that." He had the feeling she wanted to add something, but she cut off abruptly. "This," he muttered, already on the way to the door.

He couldn't even look at her anymore… and arguing on wasn't going to make him feel better, just the opposite. "was the last thing I expected. You destroy my life and then feed me inspirational philosophy."

He was almost out the door as she called out, and her words stopped him.

"I'm just telling you the truth. You're better than this… better than whatever it is you're going to do now."

His hand rested on the doorknob, he gave her a wistful glance. She wouldn't understand. Was he surprised? Hell no. Nobody ever did.

"Rose, I'm an addict with no work ethic who's likely going to go insane. I'm not like you. I'm not a superhero."

"Not yet," her voice was gentle, but he could tell that she was somehow sure of it. Adrian sighed, feeling like it was time to surrender. He gave her one, last, long glance before cutting loose forever,

"The contract's null and void, by the way."

As soon as he was out the door, the image became hazy and started to shift.


End file.
